The  Night  Tide 

A  Story  of  Old  Chinatown 


BY 
GRANT  CARPENTER 

ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 

J.  A.  CAHILL 


New  York 
THE  H.  K.  FLY  COMPANY 

Sheridan  Square 


Copyright,  1920,  by 
THE  H.  K.  PLY  COMPANY 


Copyright 
THE  SUNSET 


Chan  Gow  Doy  smiled  with  satisfaction  zvhen  his  eyes  fell 


TO   MY   FATHER-IN-LAW 

JAMES    N.    BLOCK 

IN    APPRECIATION   OF    BLESSINGS.  BESTOWED 


16229 


CONTENTS 

PROLOGUE 

CHAPTE*                                                                                                                                 PAGE 
BOOK     I 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  EAST 

I. 

The  Man  Without  Ancestors 5 

II. 

The  Girl  Who  Had  Eaten  Meat 

10 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

Male  and  Female  Spirits 
Consolation  For  The  Dying  . 
The  Oath  of  The  Chicken's  Head 

H 

18 

25 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

The  Vision  in  The  "Long  Draw 
The  Prophet  Speaks    . 
The  Working  of  a  Miracle 
The  Coming  of  The  Law 
The  Law  of  The  Clan 

32 
36 
43 
So 
63 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

The  Mortgaged  Slave  Girl     . 
The  War  of  The  Tongs     . 
The  Highbinder  Woman  . 

72 
78 
87 

I. 

II. 
III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 


BOOK  II 
WAYS  THAT  ARE   DARK 


Gambling  for  Her  Freedom 

97 

Unexpected  Turn  of  Fortune       .... 

106 

The  Water-Snake  Shows  Its  Head    . 

113 

Contending  With  The  Evil  Spirits    . 

119 

Prophet  and  Priest  Combine       .... 

125 

Obstinate  Spirits  and  Determined  Men 

133 

The  Death  Song 

'37 

vi  CONTENTS 

BOOK  III 
EAST  AGAINST  WEST 

I.     The  Feel  of  Steel  Bracelets 145 

II.     The  White  Woman  and  Yellow  Men     .      .  156 

III.  The  Bait  In  The  Trap 168 

IV.  The  Trap  Is  Sprung 176 

V.     The  Snake  In  The  Grass 188 

VI.     Throwing  Dust  in  The  Snake's  Eyes     .      .      .  197 

VII.    The  Old  Woman's  Bribe 203 

BOOK  IV 
THE  DAUGHTERS  OF  QUAN 

I.     A  Little  Foreign  Devil 209 

II.     A  Sacrifice  To  The  Gods 217 

III.  Another  Pig  For  Market 230 

IV.  The  Toad  In  The  Burrow  of  The  Mole       .  241 
V.     The  Runaway  Pig 247 

VI.    A  Laborer  In  The  Vineyard 254 

BOOK  V 
LITTLE  CHICKEN 

I.    The  Home  Of  The  Two  Crippled  Sons       .     .  263 

II.     Little  Chicken 268 

III.  Quan  Quock  Ming's  Revenge 273 

IV.  The  Boy  Girl 284 

V.     An  Accounting  Demanded 290 

VI.     Glory  of  His  Ancestors 295 

VII.    The  Girl  Boy 304 

VIII.    An  Account  Is  Settled 308 

IX.    A  Prophecy  Fulfilled 314 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Chan  Gow  Doy  smiled  with  satisfaction  when  his  eyes 

fell  upon  the  fortune-teller        .      .      .  Frontispiece 

PAGE 

When  Chew  Foo  hid  her  in  the  foreign  part  of  the  city  he 

smiled,  saying,  "I  will  keep  you  for  myself"       .      .       66 

"The  old  woman  who  guards  you  beats  you  often;  and 
you  know  very  well  that  you  will  be  killed  if  you  run 
away" 102 

"I've  got  you  this  time,  Little  Pete,"  said  the  official     183 

It  was  the  afternoon  before  Chinese  New  Year  and  under 
the  influence  of  the  warm  February  sun  Quan 
Quock  Ming  fell  into  a  doze 279 

The   illustrations   are  used  with   the   kind  permission  of  the  Sunset  Mag- 


THE  NIGHT  TIDE 


PROLOGUE 

The  tide  of  night  life  in  old  Chinatown  was 
just  at  its  turning.  The  mimic  emperor  of  an  an- 
cient dynasty,  with  a  final  stamp  of  his  paper  boot, 
a  farewell  wave  of  his  wooden  sword  and  an  ex- 
piring tremor  of  his  cardboard  armor,  had  just 
surrendered  the  stage  of  the  sweltering  and 
reeking  theater  to  the  adventurous  rats  and 
cockroaches  from  the  cellars  and  sewers  be- 
neath. The  last  insistent  clash  of  cymbals  had 
silenced  all  at  once  the  shrieking  fiddles,  the  wail- 
ing flageolets  and  the  noisy  banqueters  at  the 
Lotus  Flower.  From  every  quarter  near  and  far, 
like  irregular  bursts  of  musketry,  came  the  crash 
of  triple  oak  and  steel  doors,  and  out  of  the  bar- 
ricaded gambling  houses  glided  file  upon  file  of 
pale  ghosts,  visible  for  an  instant  under  flicker- 
ing and  sputtering  arc  lights  before  they  faded 
into  the  spectral  night. 

In  the  street  of  the  Golden  Chrysanthemums, 
where  wistful  faces  peered  from  barred  windows, 
the  gaudy  lanterns  with  misty  aureoles  were 
whisking  out.  Here  and  there  flashes  of  light 
spanned  the  narrow  passage,  only  to  be  blotted 
out  by  slamming  doors  and  clanking  bolts,   and 


2  • 


' '  Trtt  NIGHT  TIDE 


hollow  laughter  on  painted  lips  ended  in  sobs  as 
slave  girls  turned  away  to  weep  out  the  night  in 
silence.  The  yellow  phantoms  that  shuffled  past 
scarcely  stirred  the  chill  air,  heavy  with  the  per- 
fume of  sandal  wood  and  lily  blossoms,  thick  with 
the  dead  odor  of  burned  poppy  juice.  Plunging 
and  struggling  through  the  night  fog  came  the 
melancholy  shriek  of  the  last  ferry  boat  cross- 
ing the  bay,  and  a  single  clang  of  the  big  clock  at 
St.  Mary's.  Then  all  was  still  but  for  the  sift! 
sift!  siff!  of  slippered  feet  scurrying  always  from 
a  host  of  malignant  spirits  and  hurrying  ever 
toward  the  Ten  Courts  of  Justice  in  the  King- 
dom of  the  Dead. 

"Are  they  all  so  hopeless  as  they  seem?"  I 
asked  of  my  companion,  Little  Pete. 

The  light  of  his  cigar  illumined  his  face  for 
an  instant,  and  it,  too,  was  ghastly. 

"Every  man  of  them  carries  his  coffin  on  his 
back,"  he  answered. 

"Hatchet-men?" 

"No;  evil  spirits." 

"And  the  women?" 

"The  women!"  There  was  both  surprise  and 
contempt  in  his  tone.  "They  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it  all  but  to  work  and  to  wait." 

"For  what?" 

"Work  for  the  men  and  wait  for  the  worst.** 

"Death?" 

"It  is  too  long  coming — so  they  pray  to  the 
Mother  of  Heaven  to  hasten  it.     But  how  can  the 


PROLOGUE  3 

one  little  goddess  permitted  to  them  contend 
against  the  many  gods  allotted  to  men.  The 
death  of  a  woman  always  causes  some  man  dis- 
comfort, and  the  gods  cannot  permit  that." 

"Ah  ma!" 

It  was  a  scream  almost  in  my  ear,  followed  in- 
stantly by  a  blinding  flash  and  a  deafening  roar. 
A  figure  sprawled  on  the  sidewalk  at  our  feet; 
then  came  the  soft  patter  of  slippered  feet  on  a 
creaking  stair,  the  shrill  of  a  patrolman's  whistle 
in  the  distance,  the  thud  of  heavy  boots  pounding 
down  the  street  toward  us  and  the  flash  of  a 
night  light  in  our  faces. 

"Hello,  Pete!  Has  the  Big  Chink  started 
something  again?" 

UI  know  nothing  of  the  matter." 

uThe  hell  you  don't!" 

Later,  over  a  plate  of  preserved  fruits  and  a 
pot  of  Mandarin  tea,  I  asked: 

"Who  is  the  Big  Chink?" 

"A  man  with  the  wisdom  of  the  gods,  the  cun- 
ning of  demons  and  the  heart  of  a  chicken,"  an-  * 
swered  Little  Pete. 

"Do  you  know  him?" 

"As  I  know  my  own  shadow."  He  flicked  at 
the  ash  of  his  cigar  with  the  inch-long  nail  of 
his  little  finger,  watching  the  glint  and  sparkle 
of  his  solitaire  a  full  minute  before  he  looked 
me  in  the  face  again.  "When  you  hear  the 
death  cry  in  your  ear,  when  you  see  tears  on  the 
cheeks  of  a  woman,  when  you  hear  a  girl  scream 


4  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

in  the  night  you  will  surely  see,  if  you  look  sharp- 
ly enough,  the  shadow  of  him  on  the  wall." 

"What  is  his  name?" 

"Quan  Quock  Ming." 

"His  business?" 

Upon  the  face  of  Little  Pete  appeared  the 
smile  that  must  have  earned  for  him  the  name 
bestowed  by  his  people — Fung  the  Perfect. 

"He  is  a  promoter  of  happiness  and  longevity." 

Almost  nightly  for  weeks,  at  the  turning  of 
that  tide,  we  met,  sometimes  behind  the  barri- 
caded doors  of  a  deserted  gambling  house,  oc- 
casionally in  the  silk,  lacquer  and  perfume  of  a 
singing  girl's  reception  room,  but  oftenest  on  the 
carved  and  gilded  balcony  of  the  Lotus  Flower. 
And  nightly,  while  I  watched  the  flitting  lights  on 
the  purple  bay  or  the  golden  glow  of  the  city  be- 
yond, hearing  only  the  murmur  of  his  melliflu- 
ous Cantonese  or  faultless  English,  Little  Pete, 
with  fingers  as  deft  as  an  Indian  silk-weaver's, 
gathered  the  threads  of  Quan  Quock  Ming's  life 
and  wove  them  into  fantastic  patterns  easily  un- 
derstood and  never  to  be  forgotten. 


BOOK  I 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  EAST 
CHAPTER  I 

THE   MAN   WITHOUT  ANCESTORS 

My  mother,  with  the  waters  of  sorrow  stream- 
ing down  her  cheeks  and  falling  on  mine,  had 
held  me  close  in  her  arms  and  kissed  me  for  the 
last  time,  and  had  slipped  her  last  silver  coin 
into  my  trembling  hand.  I  had  waved  my  yellow 
silk  handkerchief  until  I  could  no  longer  dis- 
tinguish her  form  in  the  group  ashore,  or  hear 
her  voice  admonishing  me  to  be  a  good  boy  and 
never,  never  forget  her.  Then  it  seemed  that  the 
summer  sun  was  suddenly  obscured,  and  the  har- 
bor was  full  of  dismal  depths  into  which  the 
sampan  threatened  to  plunge  after  each  sickening 
uplift;  and  I,  who  had  been  so  eager  to  depart 
and  so  fearful  that  I  might  not,  was  filled  with  a 
mighty  longing  to  return,  knowing  that  I  could 
not. 

Then  it  was  that  I  crouched  in  the  stern  of  the 
sampan  and  whimpered  like  a  sick  puppy,  until 
a  wrench  at  one  ear  and  a  slaptm  the  mouth  made 
me  yelp  and  take  my  knuckles  out  of  my  eyes  to 

5 


6  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

discover  the  rude  interrupter  of  my  grief;  and  1, 
a  very  small  boy  with  a  large  and  disconsolate 
heart,  stared  in  gaping  terror  through  a  fresh 
flow  of  tears  at — him,  a  very  big  man  with  a 
terribly  fierce  frown. 

"Hai-e-e!"  he  growled.  "There  are  two  les- 
sons in  one,  and  nothing  to  pay.  That  should 
teach  you  to  keep  your  ears  open  and  your  mouth 
shut." 

His  severity  and  my  discomfort  impelled  me 
to  put  one  hand  over  my  mouth  and  the  other 
over  the  ear  for  protection  and  alleviation,  es- 
pecially as  I  had  nothing  better  to  do  with  my 
hands.  Then,  realizing  that  one  covered  an  ear 
which  he  had  commanded  me  to  keep  open,  and 
the  other  could  hardly  hold  my  mouth,  through 
which  my  heart  was  ready  to  burst,  a  new  spasm 
of  fear  seized  me,  and  I  held  both  hands  over 
my  closed  lips,  let  my  tears  trickle  through  my 
fingers  and  smothered  my  distress  in  sobs.  The 
fierce  one  relaxed  his  frown,  but  still  staring  at 
me,  said,  not  unkindly: 

"Now,  my  son,  that  your  ears  are  open,  you 
may  listen.  First  dry  your  eyes,  then  open  your 
mouth  and  speak  of  the  causes  of  such  a  disturb- 
ance." 

When  I  had  succeeded  in  swallowing  my  heavy 
heart,  I  told  him,  with  many  tears  and  sobs,  the 
exact  truth  (which  is  not  so  difficult  when  one  is 
very  young)  ;  and  the  truth  was  that  my  mother, 
fortunately,    had    many    children,    though    little 


THE  MAN  WITHOUT  ANCESTORS       7 

money,  while  my  uncle,  unfortunately,  had  no 
children  and  much  money;  that  I  had  no  father, 
but  my  uncle  in  the  land  of  the  white  foreign 
devils  beyond  the  great  sea  had  adopted  me,  and 
would  teach  me  to  earn  money  and  worship  my 
ancestors;  that  it  was  a  long  way  to  the  place 
where  the  sun  rises,  and  it  might  be  a  very  long 
time  before  I  could  see  my  mother  again;  and 
that  I  doubted  if  the  silver  coin  she  had  given  me, 
even  though  it  were  the  equivalent  of  a  thousand 
copper  cash,  would  pay  my  passage  back,  if  I 
should  become  sick  for  my  home  or  be  stoned  by 
the  foreign  devils. 

"My  son" —  his  voice  was  earnest  and  his 
demeanor  grave — "even  at  this  moment  you  are 
more  fortunate  than  I,  for  I  have  nothing — 
no  money,  no  women  folk,  no  ancestors,  and, 
worst  of  all,  I  have  a  bad  fung  shut." 

I  glanced  at  the  handkerchief  in  which  he  car- 
ried a  few  articles,  and  observing  it  he  continued: 

"That  holds  as  little  promise  as  my  life — a 
cold  pipe,  a  box  without  opium  and  a  lamp  with- 
out oil.  How  can  one  live  and  prosper  with  a 
bad  fung  shut,  when  he  cannot  drive  away  the 
evil  spirits  that  pursue  him?" 

I  could  not  answer  that,  nor  could  I  understand 
how  one  could  preserve  his  life  so  long  and  his 
health  so  well  without  the  blessings  that  come  on 
favoring  winds  and  flowing  waters  from  the 
tombs  of  ancestors  advantageously  located.  I 
knew  that  my  mother  would  never  have  permitted 


8  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

my  departure  if  the  geomancers,  who  selected  the 
burial-place  of  my  father,  had  not  assured  her 
that  the  fung  shui  was  good.  So  I  merely  shook 
my  head. 

"One  more  lesson,  my  son,"  and  when  I  quickly 
clapped  a  protecting  hand  over  the  ear  that  had 
not  been  pulled,  he  smiled  a  little  and  said:  "Not 
of  that  sort.  But  attend  upon  what  I  shall  say. 
You  have  a  good  fung  shui,  no  doubt,  so  if  you 
would  be  both  prosperous  and  happy  have  always 
a  tranquil  mind,  a  courageous  heart  and  a  gener- 
ous hand.  Remember  that  you  have  kindred, 
money  and  ancestors,  while  I — why  I  have  not 
so  much  as  a  single  friend  or  a  copper  in  cash." 

He  seemed  so  melancholy  and  winked  his  eyes 
so  quickly  that  I  was  quite  sure,  had  he  been  as 
young  as  I,  he,  too,  would  have  whimpered;  and 
I  knew  that  his  liver  was  large  with  benevolence, 
though  his  hand  was  heavy  when  he  was  dis- 
turbed. 

I  had  been  so  much  humored  and  so  seldom  re- 
proved by  indulgent  relatives  that  I  was  alto- 
gether unaccustomed  to  such  correction  as  he  had 
administered,  but  instead  of  resenting  it  deeply, 
I  felt  that  he  was  one  I  should  respect,  obey  and 
serve;  and  to  show  I  was  worthy  of  the  interest 
he  had  taken  in  me,  I  asked  very  politely : 

"What  is  your  honored  surname?" 

"My  insignificant  surname  is  Quan,"  he  re- 
plied. 


THE  MAN  WITHOUT  ANCESTORS      9 

"Distinguished  and  venerable  Quan,  what  is 
your  age?" 

"Alas,  I  have  wasted  forty  years." 

"Sir  scholar,  I  would  be  your  poor,  cheap 
friend,  but  I  doubt  if  my  fung  shui  would  help 
you." 

"My  son,  you  have  a  benevolent  liver  and  a 
proper  respect  for  your  elders  so  we  shall  be 
friends  and  help  one  another  whenever  possible 
— shall  we  not?" 

We  had  reached  the  ship  before  I  could  frame 
words  to  tell  him  how  happy  I  was  to  find  so 
good  a  friend,  even  though  he  had  a  bad  fung 
shui  and  no  ancestors;  and  then  I  remembered 
that  he  had  no  money  either,  so  I  paid  the  sam- 
pan man  twenty  cash — ten  for  him  and  ten  for 
me.  And  from  that  moment  Quan  Quock  Ming 
has  never  failed  to  give  me  good  advice  when  I 
required  it,  and  I  have  never  refused  to  give  him 
money  when  he  needed  it.  Therefore  our  friend- 
ship has  endured. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   GIRL  WHO   HAD  EATEN  MEAT 

On  the  vessel's  deck  many  of  my  countrymen, 
some  of  their  women  and  a  few  children,  were 
mixed  in  great  disorder  and  confusion  with  num- 
berless boxes,  baskets  and  bundles,  over  which 
some  stood  guard  and  others  disputed,  while  still 
others,  wishing  neither  to  stand  nor  to  quarrel, 
sat  listening,  watching  and  waiting  until  some 
one  would  tell  them  what  disposition  to  make  of 
themselves  and  their  belongings.  The  midday 
heat  and  the  excitement  of  embarkation  produced 
intense  irritation,  and  men  bested  in  disputes 
cursed  their  wives,  whereupon  the  women  scolded 
their  children,  and  the  children  screamed. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  found  a  clear  space,  let 
himself  down  on  the  hot  boards  heavily,  laid  his 
bundle  beside  him,  clasped  his  hands  over  his 
knees  and  fixed  his  gaze  wistfully  toward  the  west 
where  Canton  lay,  paying  no  heed  whatever  to 
the  uproar  beyond  frowning  occasionally  when 
some  man  cursed  more  fluently,  or  some  child 
screamed  more  piercingly  than  usual;  while  I, 
feeling  the  need  of  my  new-found  friend  in  the 
strange  surroundings,  sat  as  near  to  him  as  po- 
liteness  would   permit   and   sought   diversion  in 

10 


GIRL  WHO  HAD  EATEN  MEAT    1.1 

observing  all  that  came  from  the  ferment.  Some 
of  the  sights  amused  me  very  much,  and  all  in- 
terested me. 

Soon  a  stoop-shouldered,  pock-marked  man,  a 
squat,  fat  woman  and  a  weazened  girl  came  over 
the  side  and  joined  the  company.  The  man  and 
woman  carried  a  few  small  parcels,  while  the 
girl  reeled  under  an  enormous  bundle,  and  as  she 
swung  her  burden  from  her  back  it  fell  with  a 
clatter.  The  man  struck  her  a  blow  with  the  open 
hand  en  one  side  of  the  head,  and,  as  she  stag- 
gered, the  woman  cuffed  her  on  the  other  side. 
The  girl  crouched  low  between  them,  shielded  her 
head  with  her  arms  and  peered  fearfully  this  way 
and  that,  but  made  no  sound.  After  cursing  her 
for  her  clumsiness  the  man  and  woman  sat  down, 
mopped  their  faces  and  grumbled  of  the  heat, 
paying  no  more  attention  to  her. 

"Did  that  hurt?"  I  asked,  when  she  had  found 
a  place  near  me. 

"Not  so  much  as  hunger,"  she  muttered  list- 
lessly without  turning  her  eyes  toward  me. 

"Do  you  get  such  beatings  often?" 

"Yes;  but  I  am  fed  twice  a  day." 

"Your  tongue  is  thick  in  its  speech.  From 
what  place  came  you?" 

"From  up  the  river." 

"Where  everyone  hungers?" 

"Where  people  die  for  the  want  of  a  handful 
of  rice,  as  my  father  did;  where  others  die  for 
stealing  a  handful  of  rice,  as  my  elder  brother 


12  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

did;  and  where  a  family  can  live  for  a  month  on 
half  a  mat  of  rice,  as  my  mother  and  younger 
brothers  and  sisters  will." 

"But  what  will  they  do  when  the  rice  is  gone?" 

"Sell  another  girl." 

"And  when  all  the  girls  are  gone?" 

"Sell  a  boy  to  one  who  has  no  son  to  preserve 
the  family  name." 

"And  what  will  your  mother  do,  hungry  one, 
when  there  are  no  more  children  to  sell?" 

"Die — and  lie  unburied  until  the  flood  comes 
to  bear  away  the  bodies." 

I  thought  of  my  mother  and  began  to  feel  a 
little  sorrow  inside  of  me,  so  I  asked:  "Do  you 
never  cry  when  you  think  of  it  all?" 

"How  can  one  cry  when  one  no  longer  feels 
the  pang  of  hunger?" 

With  shame  I  recalled  my  grief  upon  parting 
from  my  mother,  so  changed  the  subject. 

"What  is  your  honorable  family  name?"  I  in- 
quired. 

"I  am  of  the  family  of  Fong,  named  Fah." 

"Do  you  belong  to  them?"  and  I  nodded 
toward  the  man  and  woman  who  had  beaten  and 
cursed  her. 

"Yes;  they  paid  half  a  mat  of  rice  for  me." 

"Are  you  their  servant  or  their  adopted 
daughter?" 

"How  should  I  know?  Why  should  I  care 
when  I  remember  that  I  have  eaten  meat?     I 


GIRL  WHO  HAD  EATEN  MEAT     13 

may  be  sold  as  a  slave  to-day,  or  I  may  be  given 
in  marriage  to-morrow." 

When  she,  a  child  not  much  larger  than  I  who 
had  lived  but  ten  years,  spoke  of  marriage  Quan 
Quock  Ming  turned  and  gave  her  such  an  ap- 
praising scrutiny  as  one  would  bestow  upon  a  fowl 
in  the  market-place,  but  remained  silent;  so  I 
asked  the  question  that  I  thought  was  in  his  mind. 

"What  is  your  age?" 

"I  had  enough  to  eat  for  twelve  years  and  was 
hungry  for  three." 

She  was  watching  a  baby  beside  her  eat  cakes, 
and  as  the  crumbs  fell  she  picked  them  up  and 
munched  them  greedily. 

"Are  you  hungry  now?"  I  asked. 

"I  feel  no  pain,  but  1  could  eat  always,"  she 
replied.  "They  say  that  I  am  a  great  pig.  I 
have  heard  my  honorable  master  say  we  are 
going  to  a  country  where  no  one  ever  hungers, 
and  all  have  meat  every  day,  but  I  cannot  see 
how  that  can  be  true.  Can  you?"  and  she  stared 
incredulously  when  I  told  her  that  I  had  given 
the  matter  no  thought. 

Soon  we  were  led  to  different  parts  of  the  ship, 
I  to  the  quarters  of  the  men,  which  made  me  feel 
very  important,  and  she  to  the  place  reserved  for 
the  women  and  children;  and  when  I  observed 
that  Quan  Quock  Ming's  eyes  followed  her  I 
thought  he  might  feel  as  kindly  disposed  toward 
her  as  to  me. 


CHAPTER  III 

MALE   AND    FEMALE    SPIRITS 

As  long  ago  as  I  can  remember  I  was  told  that 
if  I  were  not  a  good  and  obedient  boy  I  would 
be  given  over  to  the  white  foreign  devils,  who 
would  carry  me  to  the  other  side  of  the  world 
in  a  great  devil  boat  that  had  no  oars  or  sails, 
but  was  driven  by  fire;  so,  when  I  found  myself  in 
the  hands  of  the  fan  quai  and  upon  just  such  a 
vessel,  I  was  terrified,  even  though  many  of  my 
countrymen  were  with  me  and  did  not  seem  to  be 
disturbed  in  the  least.  Then  I  had  the  thought 
that  the  tale  of  my  uncle  adopting  me  had  been 
concocted  to  get  me  away  with  as  little  trouble  as 
possible,  and  I  wondered  what  wickedness  qf 
mine  had  finally  decided  my  mother  upon  the 
execution  of  her  oft-repeated  threat;  and  whether 
she  had  given  me  up  willingly  or  with  the  sincere 
regret  she  had  manifested. 

In  my  doubts  and  fears  I  felt  greatly  the  need 
of  my  new-found  friend,  and  I  kept  as  close  to 
him  as  possible,  being  at  the  same  time  very 
watchful ;  and  once  when  a  fan  quai  sailor  started 
suddenly  toward  me  I  seized  Quan  Quock  Ming's 
arm  and  screamed  in  a  convulsion  of  terror. 
Everyone  laughed  at  me,  but  I  did  not  relax  my 
vigilance  and  hung  closer  on  his  heels,  being  care- 

»4 


MALE  AND  FEMALE  SPIRITS       15 

ful  to  keep  him  between  myself  and  the  white 
devils  who  tortured  me  with  grimaces  and  grabs 
at  me.  That  was  no  easy  task,  as  he  took  no  rest 
at  all  but  continually  walked  hither  and  thither, 
sometimes  quickly,  sometimes  slowly,  pausing  oc- 
casionally in  a  way  that  led  me  to  believe  he  in- 
tended to  rest,  then  starting  off  again  so  suddenly 
that  I  could  scarcely  keep  pace  with  him.  Down 
into  the  sleeping  quarters  where  some  of  my 
countrymen  were  chatting  or  smoking  opium,  then 
up  again,  and  to  this  and  to  that  side  of  the  ves- 
sel he  would  hurry.  He  paused  oftenest  and 
longest  where  the  opium  smokers  were,  speaking 
to  no  one,  even  ignoring  the  customary  greet- 
ings and  friendly  inquiries  of  our  countrymen,  but 
watching  intently  while  one  prepared  his  opium 
and  then  rushing  away  at  the  first  puff  of  smoke. 
As  darkness  fell  over  the  harbor  the  small 
boats  hurried  back  to  their  moorings.  One  by 
one  the  twinkling  lights  appeared  here  and  there, 
and  I  shivered  a  little,  more  from  the  fearful  still- 
ness than  the  evening  cold.  Quan  Quock  Ming, 
too,  seemed  fearful,  for  he  started  at  sounds  and 
shrank  at  shadows,  and  at  times  cursed  or  mut- 
tered or  gesticulated  excitedly.  His  inexplicable 
behavior  augmented  my  fears,  so  I  crept  closer 
to  him  in  my  loneliness,  hoping  he  would  speak 
with  me  and  stay  the  tears  that  were  ready  to  flow. 
And  he  did.  Though  Quan  Quock  Ming  has  been 
my  very  best  friend  for  many  years  I  have  never 
known  him  to  converse  with  anyone  so  freely  as 


1 6  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

with  me  that  evening,  while  we  stood  at  the  side 
of  the  ship  watching  the  lights  on  the  shore  that 
we  were  leaving. 

"My  son,"  said  he,  uwe  shall  soon  leave  be- 
hind us  our  country,  our  homes,  our  people  and 
our  ancestors." 

"But,  sir  scholar,"  said  I,  "you  told  me  that 
you  had  no  ancestors." 

"I  had  ancestors,  but  I  have  lost  them." 

I  waited  for  him  to  explain  that  to  me,  but  as 
he  remained  silent  I  asked: 

"Would  you  be  good  enough  to  tell  me,  sir 
scholar,  how  one  can  lose  his  ancestors,  except  by 
death;  and  even  then  their  spirits  return  to  him?" 

He  turned  his  eyes  from  the  shore  and  kept 
them  cast  down  as  he  walked  quickly  to  and  fro 
without  speaking,  while  I,  with  very  long  strides, 
attempted  to  keep  pace  with  him  so  that  I  might 
not  lose  his  answer.  While  I  was  thinking  that 
I  might  have  given  offense  by  asking  an  imperti- 
nent question,  he  said: 

"Your  father  died,  and  his  friends  went  to  the 
housetop  and  called  to  him  to  return.  They 
placed  uncooked  rice  and  roasted  flesh  by  his  side 
and  afterward  buried  his  body  in  the  earth  with 
the  head  to  the  north,  while  they,  with  their  faces 
to  the  south,  looked  to  heaven,  whither  his  spirit 
will  go  in  its  proper  time. 

"In  every  man,  my  son,  the  intelligent  spirit  is 
of  the  shan  nature,  and  the  animal  spirit  of  the 
kwei  nature,  just  as  there  are  male  and  female 


MALE  AND  FEMALE  SPIRITS       17 

flowers  upon  the  same  plant.  All  the  living  must 
die,  and  dying  return  to  the  ground  with  the  kzvei, 
but  the  shan  issues  forth  and  is  finally  displayed 
on  high  in  a  condition  of  glorious  brightness. 
Kzvei  is  the  mother  spirit  that  watches  over  us 
here,  while  shan,  the  father  spirit,  is  finding  the 
way  to  the  Land  of  the  Immortals. 

"The  shan  of  your  father  is  now  in  the  Ten 
Courts  of  Justice  in  the  Kingdom  of  the  Dead, 
which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  a  great  ocean  beneath 
the  earth.  The  kzvei  of  your  father  remains  with 
his  bones,  which  are  buried  on  a  height  in  dry 
soil,  that  they  may  grow  yellow  with  the  passing 
of  the  years,  and  rest  in  peace.  And  the  kzvei 
looks  down  upon  you  with  benevolence  and  comes 
freely  to  the  ancestral  tablet  on  the  family  altar 
to  receive  your  sacrifices  and  hear  your  prayers. 
So  it  is  with  all  your  ancestors  whose  contented 
kzvei  has  not  yet  reunited  with  the  purified  shan  in 
the  Land  of  the  Immortals.  Thus  your  fung  shui 
is  good." 

"But  is  it  true,  sir  scholar,  that  the  dead  can 
have  knowledge  of  the  service  we  render  them?" 

"When  Tsze  Kung  asked  the  illustrious  Kung- 
foo-tsze  that,  the  master  answered:  'There  is  no 
present  urgency  about  the  point.  Hereafter  you 
will  know  for  yourself.*  M 

Quan  Quock  Ming  stopped  suddenly  before 
me,  and  gripping  my  arm  so  hard  that  I  winced 
with  the  pain  of  it,  said: 

"The  sons  of  Quan  know  for  themselves!" 


CHAPTER  IV 

CONSOLATION  FOR  THE  DYING 

Quan  Quock  Ming  sighed  deeply,  rested  his 
arms  on  the  vessel's  rail  and  kept  his  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  distant  shore  that  grew  darker  each 
moment  as  the  lights  began  to  wink  themselves 
out;  and  after  a  few  moments  of  silence  he  began 
to  speak  in  low,  earnest  tones. 

"There  was  one  of  the  family  of  Quan,"  he 
said,  "who  grew  weary  of  the  beatings  of  the  vil- 
lage schoolmaster  by  day  and  the  watching  of 
his  father's  pulse  field  by  night,  and  he  took  to 
the  river — the  great  river  that  bears  the  good 
and  the  bad,  the  profitable  and  the  unprofitable, 
the  unstable  living  and  the  unburied  dead  steadily 
and  irresistibly  to  the  sea.  He  paused  where  the 
tide  turns  it  back  upon  the  shore  and  became  a 
watcher  of  the  river  and  a  gatherer  of  its  bur- 
dens, skimming  the  surface  and  searching  its 
depths  for  the  profit  that  may  come  from  the  liv- 
ing or  the  dead. 

"In  time  the  son  of  Quan  bought  a  boat  and 
took  a  wife — one  born  and  reared  in  a  sampan,  as 
were  her  parents  and  her  grandparents  before 
her.  She  seldom  placed  a  foot  upon  the  land, 
knowing  the  great  city  only  as  a  place  where  one 


CONSOLATION  FOR  THE  DYING     19 

must  leave  his  habitation  and  brave  many  un- 
known dangers  even  to  buy  the  evening  meal. 
She  took  her  place  at  the  oars  and  did  a  man's 
work  with  her  strong  arms,  and  a  man's  cursing 
with  her  sharp  tongue;  and  there  she  bore  him 
two  sons,  pausing  only  in  her  labors  long  enough 
to  dip  them  in  the  muddy  waters  of  the  river  and 
put  a  single  garment  upon  each. 

"Unlike  others  of  the  river  class  the  father  had 
acquired  enough  of  the  classics  to  know  their 
worth,  and  when  his  sons  were  old  enough  he  sent 
them  from  the  boat  to  the  schoolroom  to  have  the 
ancient  wisdom  beaten  into  their  heads,  while  he 
plied  the  oars  with  only  their  mother's  grumbling 
aid.  Through  the  succeeding  years  he  remained 
poor,  honest,  industrious  and  economical,  and 
being  altogether  a  worthy  man,  merited  the  good 
fortune  that  came  to  him  so  unexpectedly,  for  one 
day  he  found  the  floating  body  of  a  white  foreign 
devil,  and  in  the  pockets  were  150,000  cash,  all 
in  coined  gold,  of  which  one  ounce  is  the  equiva- 
lent of  12,000  cash.  Being  well  advanced  in 
years,  he  turned  his  boat  up  the  river  toward  his 
native  village  where  all  were  his  near  kin;  and 
there  he  bought  a  good  house  and  productive 
land,  and  settled  himself  to  spend  his  old  age  in 
such  ease  and  tranquillity  as  the  possession  of 
great  wealth  would  warrant. 

"When  his  kinsmen  of  the  village  learned  of 
his  opulence  they  protested  great  friendship  and 
sought  loans,  pleading  various  needs;  and  when 


20  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

he  refused  them  as  courteously  as  possible,  they 
tried  to  defraud  him  in  devious  ways.  May  their 
wicked  hearts  be  eaten  by  dogs!  But  they  failed, 
for  he  knew  the  ways  of  the  country  as  well  as 
the  manners  of  the  city.  The  villagers  became 
very  angry  and  did  much  to  vex  and  annoy  him; 
and  when  he  still  walked  his  way  with  no  show 
of  resentment,  they  became  bolder  till  even  the 
old  women  and  children  would  shout  after  him: 

11  'Hai-e-e !  Ducks  fatten  on  the  livers  of  the 
dead!' 

"Know,  my  son,  that  they  who  live  by  the  land 
feel  a  great  superiority  over  such  as  live  by  the 
water,  and  speak  of  them  as  Mucks.'  So  those 
words  were  contemptuous.  And  in  the  third 
ward  of  the  ninth  court  of  justice  ducks  feed  upon 
the  livers  of  the  dead;  therefore  those  words 
were  insulting. 

"Often  the  villagers  would  stealthily  set  their 
dogs  at  the  old  mother — may  their  wicked  skulls 
be  filled  with  porcupines! — and  laugh  when  she 
jumped  in  fright  to  avoid  the  curs  that  snapped 
at  her  bare  heels,  for  she  would  never  wear 
shoes,  though  the  stones  made  her  limp  and 
hobble. 

"In  time  he  of  the  family  of  Quan  selected 
wives  for  his  sons  from  a  neighboring  village, 
and  though  all  of  his  kinsmen,  with  their  wives 
and  their  children,  went  to  the  wedding  feasts 
with  trifling  presents  and  soft  words,  they  ate 


CONSOLATION  FOR  THE  DYING     21 

and  carried  away  much  more  than  they  gave,  and 
secretly  cursed  the  provider. 

"The  family  worked  diligently  in  the  fields  and 
grew  good  crops,  but  they  could  not  watch  so 
closely  that  their  envious  kinsmen  would  not 
steal  the  grain  before  it  could  be  garnered;  and 
often  the  elders  of  the  village  imposed  heavy 
fines  upon  the  old  man  because  he  would  not  as- 
sist others  in  guarding  their  crops  against 
thieves,  while  his  own  was  being  stolen.  Ha-i-ie ! 
May  their  rotting  bones  be  rapped  with  ham- 
mers! And  when  the  floods  washed  away  a  bit 
of  ground  from  a  field,  the  owner  would  go  at 
night  and  take  baskets  of  soil  from  the  fields  of 
Quan. 

"The'  old  mother  could  never  accustom  her- 
self to  village  life  or  to  farm  labor,  and  was 
never  content  with  the  earth  under  her  feet  or 
a  roof  over  her  head.  She  often  humiliated  the 
family  and  exposed  herself  to  the  ready  ridicule 
of  the  villagers  by  running  away  to  the  river,  sit- 
ting in  the  rain  or  wading  in  the  roads  when  a 
heavy  downpour  made  torrents  of  them.  As  the 
villagers  grew  more  vexatious  she  used  her  sharp 
tongue  more  frequently,  and  the  old  father  was 
no  longer  strong  enough  to  give  her  such  a  beat- 
ing as  would  keep  her  quiet  in  the  house. 

"One  day,  after  she  had  beaten  both  of  her 
sons  and  their  wives  with  a  stick,  and  quarreled 
with  her  husband  because  he  would  not  let  her  go 
back  to  the  sampan  and  the  river,  she  climbed  to 


22  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

the  roof  of  the  house,  took  off  her  clothing  in 
the  sight  of  the  whole  village  and  yelled  and 
cursed  until  she  could  no  longer  make  a  sound. 
Her  husband,  in  shame  and  disgrace,  took  to  his 
bed  and  refused  meat  and  drink;  and  when  it  was 
whispered  through  the  village  that  the  rich  man 
was  about  to  die,  his  poor  kinsmen,  as  usual, 
quarreled  among  themselves  over  the  selection 
of  a  funeral  director. 

"The  sons,  who  must  be  plunged  in  grief  upon 
the  death  of  their  father,  could  do  nothing  so 
improper  as  to  attend  to  the  business  themselves; 
and  it  was  certain  that  much  money  would  be 
spent  upon  the  funeral  of  such  a  wealthy  man. 
It  was  equally  certain  that  many  cash  would  stick 
to  the  fingers  of  the  director.  When  the  elders 
could  not  settle  the  question  among  themselves, 
they  went  to  see  the  old  father  about  it,  and  the 
family  could  not  be  so  discourteous  as  to  refuse 
them  admittance  to  his  bedside. 

"  'You  are  about  to  die,  venerable  uncle,"  said 
one,  'and  we  have  come  to  ask  that  you  select 
one  among  us  to  direct  your  funeral.' 

"  'I  do  not  believe  it  possible  for  me  to  die 
now,'  said  the  old  man,  very  politely,  'though  I 
would,  very  gladly  and  quickly,  if  I  but  had  gold 
leaf  to  eat.  I  cannot  hang  or  drown  myself,  for 
such  a  cheap  death  would  be  a  great  disgrace  to 
one  of  my  station;  but,  alas!  I  am  too  poor  to 
buy  gold  leaf  and  die  an  expensive  death.' 

M  'You  are  very  wrong,  venerable  uncle,  to  say 


CONSOLATION  FOR  THE  DYING     23 

such  a  thing/  argued  another,  and  all  of  them 
nodded  their  heads  many  times.  'You  are  surely 
about  to  die  of  a  sickness,  and  even  if  you  are 
not,  we  would  respect  you  none  the  less  if  you 
should,  upon  reflection,  decide  to  hang  or  to 
drown  yourself.  Remember,  it  is  only  very  high 
officials  who  can  eat  gold  leaf.' 

M  'And  do  not  forget,  venerable  and  respected 
uncle/  urged  another,  'that  you  have  lost  your 
face  in  the  village.  If  you  should  take  your  own 
life  at  once  it  would  establish  your  innocence; 
but  if  you  should  die  a  lingering  death  people 
would  still  talk/ 

"Then  all  of  them  busied  themselves  in  taking 
off  the  clothing  he  wore,  in  putting  the  funeral 
garments  upon  him,  and  in  bringing  in  the  coffin 
he  had  kept  in  readiness  for  a  long  time,  each 
meanwhile  urging  such  reasons  as  he  could  give 
why  he  should  be  selected  to  take  charge  of  the 
burial. 

"  'I  am  your  blood  relative  and  nearest  kins- 
man, venerable  uncle,  and  therefore  should  bury 
you/  said  one. 

"  'You  have  had  no  experience  with  funerals, 
and  I  have  had  a  great  deal,  and  have  always 
satisfied  the  relatives  of  the  dead/  argued  an- 
other. 

"  'But  neither  of  you  has  a  catafalque  or 
dishes,  as  I  have,'  declared  a  third.  'Therefore 
I  will  not  have  to  rent  them,  and  that  will  be  a 
great  saving/ 


24  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

14  'The  most  important  matter  is  the  sacrificial 
meats/  urged  another.  T  am  a  butcher  and 
therefore  can  buy  very  cheaply,  and  I  will  watch 
closely,  so  that  none  will  be  stolen/ 

"Thus  they  wrangled  until  the  old  man  turned 
his  back  upon  them  and  died  without  uttering 
another  word." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  paused  so  long  that  I 
thought  he  expected  me  to  speak,  so  I  said : 

"So  much  attention  paid  to  one  who  has  lost 
his  face  must  have  been  a  great  comfort  in  his 
last  moments." 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  OATH  OF  THE  CHICKEN'S  HEAD 


Suddenly  I  discovered  that  the  last  light  had 
disappeared  and  we,  Quan  Quock  Ming  and  I, 
were  swinging  to  and  fro  in  utter  darkness.  I 
crept  closer  to  him  and  clung  to  his  coat,  sick 
with  fear,  and  it  was  not  till  he  spoke  again  that 
I  dared  look  behind  me.  One  of  the  ship's  lamps 
that  seemed  miles  away  assured  me  that  we  were 
not  already  on  our  way  to  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Dead. 

"The  elders  of  the  village  held  many  meetings, 
all  at  the  home  of  the  dead,"  continued  Quan 
Quock  Ming,  "and  it  was  necessary  to  provide  a 
feast  each  time.  And  each  time  they  said:  'We 
will  eat  first  and  then  discuss  the  matter !'  And 
after  they  had  eaten:  'Now  we  must  sleep  upon 
it.'  At  last,  when  they  had  consumed  everything 
that  could  be  provided,  they  selected  a  funeral  di- 
rector by  casting  lots. 

"The  elder  son  gave  him  20,000  cash  to  buy 
the  meats  and  cover  the  other  expense,  and  he 
sent  to  a  nearby  village  for  an  ox,  two  pigs,  a 
goat  and  many  fowls;  but  on  the  way  home  the 
kinsmen  of  the  family  attacked  the  bearers  with 
sticks  and  stones,  drove  them  off  and  stole  the 

-5 


26  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

meats.  May  boiling  oil  be  dripped  upon  their 
naked  bodies! 

"The  son  gave  the  director  10,000  more  cash, 
but  he  was  dishonest  and  bought  little  meat,  and 
the  greater  part  of  it  was  stolen  by  the  villagers, 
while  the  family  waited  for  the  geomancer  to 
select  a  burial-place  that  would  assure  a  good 
fung  shui  to  the  descendants  of  the  dead;  and 
when  the  funeral  director  led  the  musicians,  the 
bearers  and  the  mourners  across  a  field  of  grow- 
ing pulse  to  the  chosen  spot,  the  owner  of  the 
field,  with  some  of  his  neighbors,  attacked  the 
procession,  beat  the  mourners  and  threw  the  cof- 
fin into  the  road.  Under  cover  of  night  laborers 
placed  it  in  the  tomb;  and  the  sons  lost  their 
faces  in  the  village  because  they  gave  their  father, 
who  was  a  wealthy  man,  such  a  poor,  cheap  fu- 
neral. 

"In  the  three  years'  period  of  mourning,  the 
sons,  of  course,  could  transact  no  business  and 
raise  no  crops.  The  old  mother  wandered  away 
to  the  river  and  was  never  seen  again.  At  the 
end  of  the  third  year  the  brothers  sold  the  house 
and  land  for  80,000  cash,  but  they  could  not  be 
so  discourteous  as  to  count  the  strings  when  they 
were  paid  over  by  the  middlemen,  so  afterward 
found  only  850  instead  of  1,000  cash  to  the 
string. 

"Still,  with  confidence  in  the  good  fortune  that 
must  come  to  them  from  the  bones  of  their  an- 
cestor resting  in  tranquillity  in  a  high  place,  they 


OATH  OF  THE  CHICKEN'S  HEAD  27 

turned  their  faces  to  the  city  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river  and  took  up  the  former  vocation  of  their 
father.  By  industry  and  frugality  they  saved 
nearly  15,000  cash  in  three  years,  and  then  the 
wife  and  the  infant  son  of  the  elder  brother — his 
first-born — died  upon  the  same  day. 

"Aih-yah7  Such  a  terrible  misfortune  could 
come  only  from  a  bad  fung  shui! 

"The  brothers  could  not  rest  until  the  elder 
had  returned  to  his  father's  tomb  to  learn  if  by 
any  chance  the  grave  had  been  disturbed,  or  if 
water  that  mildews  the  bones  had  invaded  it. 
Hai-e-e !  It  was  worse  than  that — much  wors<- 
The  body  had  been  removed,  and  the  remains  of 
another  were  resting  there.  An  elder  of  the  vil- 
lage had  died,  and  his  relatives  had  stolen  the 
tomb  so  that  they  might  get  a  good  fung  shui, 
while  the  bones  of  Quan  were  rotting  in  a  damp 
hole  at  the  foot  of  the  hill. 

"The  son  first  offered  sacrifices  to  the  tutelary 
gods  and  worshiped  the  memory  of  his  ancestors 
at  the  village  temple,  and  then  made  complaint 
to  the  elders,  saying: 

"  'These  wicked  men  have  murdered  my  wife 
and  my  first-born  son  by  stealing  my  father's 
grave  and  throwing  his  bones  in  low  place,'  but 
the  elders  only  shook  their  heads  and  answered: 

u  'If  murder  has  been  committed  you  should 
complain  to  the  district  magistrate.' 

"When,  very  justly  and  properly,  he  gave  the 
son  of  him  who  had  been  buried  in  his  father's 


28  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

tomb  a  well-deserved  beating,  the  elders  met  to- 
gether again  and  listened  to  the  shouting  of  the 
one  who  had  been  beaten,  urging  always : 

14  'Ten  us  more/ 

"But  they  turned  deaf  ears  to  the  son  of  Quan, 
saying : 

"  'You  talk  too  much.' 

"They  decided  that  for  his  wickedness  he  and 
his  descendants  should  be  cut  off  forever  from  the 
family  of  Quan  and  denied  the  right  to  worship 
the  ancestral  gods  at  the  village  temple.  Then 
his  kinsmen  set  upon  him  with  sticks  and  stones 
and  drove  him  away.  May  sheep  tread  the  fes- 
tering flesh  from  their  bones! 

"Bruised  and  bleeding  he  dragged  himself  to 
the  feet  of  the  district  magistrate,  complained  of 
the  beating  he  had  received  and  had  the  villagers 
brought  to  answer.  They  knocked  their  fore- 
heads upon  the  floor,  shed  many  tears  and  cried 
out: 

11  'This  wicked  man  attacked  a  peaceful  clans- 
man without  provocation — one  who  had  per- 
formed his  filial  duty  well  by  burying  his  father  in 
a  good  place  at  great  expense.' 

"  'It  is  true  that  this  man  has  disturbed  the 
peace  of  honest  villagers,'  said  the  magistrate. 
'Let  him  be  beaten  upon  the  feet  with  bamboos 
and  then  be  kept  in  prison  until  his  kinsmen  pay 
the  villagers  10,000  cash  as  damages,'  but  he 
said  nothing  of  the  10,000  cash  the  younger 
brother  had  to  pay  to  him  as  squeeze. 


OATH  OF  THE  CHICKEN'S  HEAD  29 

"Aih-yah!  What  terrible  misfortunes  come 
from  a  bad  fung  shut! 

"The  brothers  returned  to  Canton,  tramping 
and  begging  like  wandering  Hakkas,  but  there 
they  quickly  hunted  out  a  near  kinsman  of  one  of 
the  wicked  elders  of  the  village  up  the  river,  and 
gave  him  a  good  beating.  Within  a  week  their 
boat  was  destroyed  in  the  night  time. 

"Thus  the  misfortunes  that  one  must  expect 
from  a  bad  fung  shut  pursued  them  wherever 
they  went,  and  they  knew  they  could  not  hope  for 
peace  or  prosperity  until  their  father's  bones  were 
reinterred  in  the  place  selected  for  them,  where 
they  would  be  at  rest  and  his  spirit  would  be  con- 
tent and  benevolent.  So  together  they  went  to  the 
village  whence  their  wives  had  come,  and  there 
employed  men  to  go  at  night,  throw  the  bones  of 
the  elder  out  of  the  grave  and  reinter  the  re- 
mains of  their  father;  but  the  villagers  soon  found 
it  out,  and  they  threw  the  body  back  in  the  hole 
at  the  foot  of  the  hill. 

"The  brothers  were  good,  pious  men,  de- 
termined to  fulfil  their  filial  duty  to  the  dead,  so 
they  hired  fighting  men  to  go  to  the  village  of 
the  clan  of  Quan  on  the  market  day  and  beat  the 
elders;  but  complaint  was  made,  the  brothers 
were  thrown  into  prison  and  beaten  and  starved 
until  their  last  copper  cash  had  been  wrung  from 
them.  Then  their  home  in  the  city  was  burned 
at  night,  and  all  of  their  ancestral  tablets  were 
destroyed.     How  is  it  possible  for  such  terrible 


3o  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

things  to  happen,  except  through  a  bad  fung  shuif 
"The  brothers,  without  money,  without  shel- 
ter and  without  ancestors,  found  a  kinsman  of 
their  mother  who  was  good  enough  to  take  them 
upon  his  junk,  but  on  the  second  day  it  was  sunk 
in  the  river  by  a  typhoon.  The  wife  of  the 
younger  was  drowned,  but  his  ten-year-old  daugh- 
ter was  saved  and  sold  as  a  slave. 

"It  may  have  happened  that  the  brothers  were 
not  drowned,  though  they  were  seen  no  more, 
either  upon  the  river  or  in  the  village;  and  it  may 
be  that  it  was  they  who  sold  the  daughter  for 
money  enough  to  pay  the  passage  of  one  to  the 
land  of  the  fan  quai,  where  gold  is  plentiful  and 
easily  acquired.  But  this  much  is  certain:  If 
either  be  living,  he  will  fight  for  his  father's  tomb 
until  he  is  laid  in  his  own,  for  the  brothers  knelt 
beside  the  humble  grave  of  their  father  at  mid- 
night, and,  cutting  off  the  head  of  a  chicken,  took 
a  solemn  oath  to  perform  their  filial  duty  if  it 
took  their  last  cash  and  their  last  breath.  And 
you  know,  my  son,  that  he  who  violates  that 
oath  shall  live  like  a  chicken,  shall  die  like  a 
chicken  and  shall,  in  the  next  life,  be  a  chicken! 
"So  it  is,  my  son,  that  one  may  lose  his  an- 
cestors. It  is  vain  for  him  to  place  ancestral 
tablets  upon  the  family  altar,  for  the  spirits  are 
blind  to  his  pious  sacrifices  and  deaf  to  his  earnest 
prayers  when  his  fung  shui  is  bad;  but  they  come 
in  strange  ways,  and  in  unexpected  forms,  and  at 
inopportune  moments,  bringing  pain,  misery  and 


OATH  OF  THE  CHICKEN'S  HEAD  31 

misfortune.  Even  a  son  may  be  born  to  him,  and 
at  the  very  instant  of  his  rejoicing  over  the  great 
good  fortune,  the  child  will  die;  and  then  he 
knows  that  it  was  not  really  a  son,  but  an  evil 
spirit  sent  in  that  guise  to  mock  him.  His  nights 
are  filled  with  fearful  visions,  and  his  days  are 
full  of  woe. 

"You  have,  no  doubt,  observed  my  perturba- 
tions, my  son,  for  all  this  day  I  have  felt  that 
some  great  calamity  is  impending,  and  I  have  not 
a  single  cash  to  offer  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  gods, 
who  alone  have  power  to  avert  it.     Aih-yahln 

Quan  Quock  Ming  looked  about  him  appre- 
hensively, peering  this  way  and  that  into  the  dark- 
ness, opening  and  closing  his  hands  convulsively 
and  breathing  brokenly,  until  I  was  nearly  dead 
with  fright.  And  then,  quite  providentially,  I 
thought  «f  the  silver  coin  my  mother  had  given 
me,  and  offered  it  to  him,  crying: 

"Take  this  quickly!     Will  it  be  sufficient?" 

He  seized  it  and  ran  toward  the  lower  part  of 
the  ship,  leaving  me  terror-stricken  to  grope  my 
way  through  the  awful  darkness. 

I  found  Quan  Quock  Ming  lying  upon  his  berth 
in  placid  and  languid  content.  His  eyes  were 
bright  and  his  brow  unfurrowed  as  he  smiled 
upon  me,  and  said: 

"My  son,  my  pipe  is  warm,  there  is  opium  in 
my  box,  there  is  oil  in  my  lamp  and  there  is  con- 
fidence in  my  heart,  for  the  evil  spirits  no  longer 
pursue." 


CHAPTER  VI 


Of  the  first  days  of  the  voyage  I  remember 
little,  save  that  I  wanted  to  die  and  feared  to 
do  so  lest  I  disturb  Quan  Quock  Ming,  who  lay 
torpid  with  opium  in  the  berth  below.  The  siz- 
zling of  the  drug  and  the  puffing  of  smoke  merely 
punctuated  his  stupor  of  deathly  stillness,  for 
there  are  no  sighs  in  an  opium-smoker's  dreams.' 
As  my  sickness  began  to  leave  me  I  felt  such  a 
hunger  as  Fong  Fah  had  mentioned,  but  it  was 
as  much  of  the  eyes  and  the  ears  as  of  the  mouth; 
and  after  I  had  devoured  a  dish  of  smoked  her- 
ring and  rice  and  had  licked  out  my  bowl,  I  lis- 
tened eagerly  to  my  countrymen  chattering  over 
their  evening  meal  like  children  over  their  New 
Year  lichee  nuts. 

"At  the  next  full  moon,"  said  one,  "we  shall 
be  in  the  land  of  the  fan  quai,  who  drink  as  much 
sam  shu  at  home  as  in  Canton,  and  are  as  stupid 
at  bargaining." 

"All  one  has  to  do  to  earn  money,"  said  an- 
other, "is  to  wash  soiled  linen  or  roll  tobacco 
leaves.  I  am  told  one  receives  as  much  as  a 
thousand  cash  for  a  single  day's  labor." 

32 


VISION  IN  THE  "LONG  DRAW"        33 

"If  one  does  not  care  to  work  for  coined  sil- 
ver," said  a  third,  "he  is  free  to  go  where  he  will 
and  wash  out  the  rough  gold,  as  pure  as  the 
bracelets  of  a  singing  girl." 

"And  the  grains  of  gold  are  larger  and  more 
plentiful  than  grains  of  rice  up  the  river,"  de- 
clared another. 

All  talked  much  of  their  homes,  their  families 
and  their  honorable  ancestors,  and  of  the  trivial 
things  that  had  happened  to  them  and  to  their 
kinsmen.  Then  I  heard  Quan  Quock  Ming,  who 
held  himself  aloof  from  his  countrymen,  mutter: 

"The  fools  prattle  of  gold,  and  gold  is  drop- 
ping from  their  lips,"  but  to  me  there  seemed  to 
be  little  wisdom  in  that  remark. 

In  the  days  that  followed  he  smoked  less  and 
[wrote  often  in  a  large  book  I  had  given  him  at 
his  request,  with  the  ink  and  brush  I  had  lent 
him  on  his  suggestion;  for  he  explained  that  the 
book  could  be  of  no  use  to  him  without  the  brush 
and  the  ink,  and  they  could  be  of  no  service  to  me 
without  the  book — which  was  quite  true.  When 
he  was  not  reading  what  he  had  already  written 
he  was  splitting  bamboo  into  slender  strips,  such 
as  are  used  in  large  fans,  smoothing  them  care- 
fully and  placing  on  each  with  India  ink  charac- 
ters that  meant  nothing  at  all  to  me,  but  neverthe- 
less   appeared    very    important    and    mysterious. 

One  evening  when  the  others  had  gone  to  en- 
joy their  pipes  in  the  open  air,  I  hung  my  head 
over  the  edge  of  my  berth  to  watch  Quan  Quock 


34  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

Ming  cook  his  opium,  and  he  was  talking  to  him- 
self in  low  growling  tones,  saying: 

"I  shall  neither  soil  my  hands  with  dirty  linen 
nor  roll  the  coarse  tobacco  leaf  for  the  fan  quai 
so  long  as  I  can  roll  the  juice  of  the  poppy  bloom 
for  myself.  Nor  shall  I  burrow  in  the  earth  like 
a  mole,  or  guzzle  in  the  mud  like  a  duck,  even 
for  grubs  of  gold.  Let  my  countrymen  have  all 
of  that,"  and  I  considered  it  very  generous  of 
him  to  leave  all  of  the  gold  for  the  others. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  gave  the  warm  opium  its 
last  roll  on  the  bowl  of  the  pipe  and  placed  it 
over  the  vent.  He  stretched  his  limbs  out  a  little, 
shifted  his  body  to  ease  the  shoulder  upon  which 
he  had  been  lying,  licked  his  lips,  pressed  the 
stem  of  the  pipe  against  them  and  held  the  opium 
over  the  lamp.  As  he  inhaled  the  fumes  slowly 
and  mightily  his  face  purpled  and  his  chest 
swelled,  but  not  so  much  as  a  thimbleful  of  smoke 
escaped  until  the  sizzling  and  the  sucking  had 
consumed  the  last  grain. 

Open-mouthed  and  breathless  I  had  been  watch- 
ing him  take  the  "long  draw,"  and  was  just  gath- 
ering a  fresh  breath  when  his  nose  wiggled  rab- 
bitlike, and  his  nostrils  spread,  and  then  twin 
blasts  of  nauseous  vapor  nearly  strangled  me. 
I  fell  back  on  my  berth  choking  and  gasping,  and 
I  thought  of  the  dragon  of  China  slaying  with 
its  breath.  There  was  a  great  weight  upon  my 
stomach  (which  was  very  cold)  that  held  my 
body  to  the  bed,  while  my  head  (which  was  very 


VISION  IN  THE  "LONG  DRAW"        35 

hot)  rolled  about  so  loosely  that  the  ship  went 
with  it,  threatening  to  capsize  and  drown  us  all. 
But  I  thought  it  did  not  matter  much. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  rose  and  strutted  to  and 
fro  with  shoulders  back  and  head  erect,  for  he 
had  taken  just  enough  to  soothe  the  nerves  that 
clamored  and  to  stimulate  the  mind  that  lagged. 
His  eyes  were  big  and  bright  and  his  voice  was 
deep  and  strong  as  Re  soliloquized: 

"What  if  you  were  born  in  a  sampan?  What 
if  your  first  breath  was  a  gasp  from  a  ducking  in 
the  muck-laden  waters  of  the  Pearl  river?  What 
if  you  have  no  money,  no  womenfolks,  no  ances- 
tors and  a  bad  fung  shut?  You  are  no  longer  a 
garbage-fed  scavenger  of  the  river — a  filthy  duck 
without  wings.  You  are  a  man  with  a  strong 
body  and  a  subtle  mind.  You  have  read  the 
Four  Books  and  the  Five  Classics,  and  they 
should  teach  you  not  only  right  living  but  good 
living,  and  both  without  physical  exertion  or 
mental  fatigue.  You  should  acquire  wealth  and 
achieve  fame,  and  have  fine  progeny  to  conserve 
the  one  and  preserve  the  other.  Men  are  fools; 
make  men  your  tools." 

Of  this  I  am  certain:  From  that  "long  draw" 
came  all  that  afterward  happened  to  Quan  Quock 
Ming. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   PROPHET  SPEAKS 

My  countrymen  had  finished  their  evening 
meal,  washed  their  bowls  and  laved  their  hands, 
and  one  of  the  family  of  Lee  had  used  the  hand 
towel  of  one  of  the  family  of  Chin — a  very 
filthy  thing  to  do.  The  two  quarreled  noisily 
over  it,  and  had  already  wound  their  queues 
around  their  heads  when  Quan  Quoclc  Ming 
spoke : 

"You  are  fools,"  he  said  so  quietly  and  de- 
cisively that  the  quarrel,  which  seemed  so  im- 
portant a  moment  before,  was  instantly  forgotten. 
"You  are  fools  to  quarrel  over  that  which  may 
never  be — the  disease  that  one  may  get  from  an- 
other's towel;  and  you  disturb  the  tranquillity  of 
those  who  have  given  no  offense  to  either  of  you. 
It  is  only  from  a  tranquil  mind  that  wisdom  flows, 
for  he  who  so  orders  and  composes  his  intelli- 
gence that  he  is  undisturbed  by  the  present,  lives 
wholly  in  the  past  and  in  the  future;  and  he  who 
knows  all  that  lies  behind  can  see  all  that  stretches 
before.  If  you  knew  what  the  future  holds  for 
you,  you  would  not  be  quarreling  over  such  a 
trifle  as  a  filthy  towel." 

36 


THE  PROPHET  SPEAKS  37 

Before  either  could  reply  Quan  Quock  Ming 
drew  from  beneath  his  mattress  the  slips  of  bam- 
boo, shook  them  loosely  in  his  hands  and  ordered 
each  to  select  one,  saying: 

"I  know  naught  of  you,  naught  of  your  ancestry, 
and  naught  of  your  destiny,  but  with  these  ques- 
tion sticks  you  interrogate  the  gods,  and  they  re- 
veal all  to  me.    I  am  but  their  interpreter." 

He  carried  the  sticks  to  the  light  and  studied 
the  characters  inscribed  upon  the)m,  muttering 
mysterious  words  that  had  the  sound  of  those  I 
once  heard  a  white  foreign  devil  utter  when  he 
fell  into  a  hole  in  a  street  of  Canton. 

"You  are  the  son  of  Chin  You  Do,  of  Chin 
Bin  village,  Sun  Ning  district,"  he  said  to  the 
Chin  man.  "When  you  were  twenty-nine  days 
old  you  were  given  the  milk  name  of  Ah  Sam, 
for  you  were  the  third  child.  After  the  smallpox 
had  marked  your  face  you  were  called  Tow  Pai 
by  your  friends  and  relatives.  When  you  were 
sent  to  the  schoolmaster  you  were  given  the  book 
name  of  Chin  Din,  and  when  you  were  married 
you  took  the  name  of  Chin  Foo  Wing.  Your 
wife  is  Wong  Yoke,  and  you  have  two  children — ■ 
a  boy  and  a  girl.  You  broke  your  arm  by  falling 
over  a  dog,  and  your  father,  who  was  a  prosper- 
ous farmer,  once  had  two  pigs  and  seventeen 
ducks.     Is  it  not  so?" 

Chin  Foo  Wing  could  only  open  and  close  his 
mouth  in  astonishment,  but  a  bolder  person  said: 

"Chin  Foo  Wing  has  told  us  all  that." 


3S  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"What  Chin  Foo  Wing  tells  you,  that  you  be- 
lieve; what  the  gods  tell  me,  that  I  know'*  said 
Quan  Quock  Ming  sternly.  "Has  Lee  Jung  also 
told  you  of  the  knife  that  he  has  hidden  in  his 
sleeve,  and  with  which  he  intended  to  kill  Chin 
Foo  Wing?  Shall  I  tell  you  more  of  these  two 
men?" 

"Sir  scholar,  I  lied  about  the  ducks,'*  confessed 
Chin  Foo  Wing. 

"I  was  about  to  speak  of  that.  Your  father 
had  eight  ducks  one  year  and  nine  another,  which 
made  seventeen." 

"Hi  low/"  assented  Chin  Foo  Wing  at  once, 
being  very  glad  to  learn  that  he  had  not  lied  so 
very  much  after  all  concerning  his  father's  wealth. 

"My  son,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming  to  Lee 
Jung,  "a  misfortune,  which  cannot  be  averted,  is 
impending.  You  will  meet  with  an  accident  soon, 
and  it  will  be  painful  but  not  grave." 

Then  he  told  them  of  other  things  that  lay  in 
the  future — provided  all  went  well  during  the 
voyage,  and  no  misfortunes  overtook  them  in  the 
land  of  the  fan  quai. 

"Sir  scholar,  would  you  accept  from  one  so 
mean  and  ignorant  a  silver  coin  for  oil  and  punks 
to  burn  at  the  altar  of  your  illustrious  ancestors?" 
asked  Lee  Jung. 

"And  also  from  one  so  low  and  humble  as  I?" 
begged  Chin  Foo  Wing. 

Each  bowed  three  times  in  the  giving,  and 
Quan  Quock  Ming  accepted  with  gracious  alac- 


THE  PROPHET  SPEAKS  39 

rity,  which  seemed  peculiar  when  I  remember  his 
telling  me  that  he  had  lost  his  ancestral  tablets 
and  had  no  ancestors  to  worship. 

"Now,"  said  he,  "permit  me  to  retire  to  my 
meditations  and  prayers,  and  disturb  not  my  tran- 
quillity lest  you  offend  the  gods." 

Every  head  was  bowed  low  and  all  eyes  were 
cast  down  while  the  sage  walked  slowly  and 
solemnly  to  his  bed,  and  all  kept  very  still  while 
he  was  composing  himself  in  his  berth,  scarcely 
daring  to  look  upon  his  broad  back.  One  whis- 
pered to  me  that  I  might  place  my  foot  upon  his 
berth  in  climbing  into  mine,  so  as  not  to  profane 
the  resting-place  of  the  prophet;  and  Lee  Jung, 
observing  that  his  chest  occupied  a  little  of  the 
space  in  front  of  Quan  Quock  Ming's  berth, 
moved  it  softly  to  its  proper  place.  All  went  si- 
lently and  stealthily  to  their  beds,  and  later  on 
those  who  were  awakened  by  their  own  snoring 
started  up  in  fear  and  cast  apprehensive  glances 
toward  the  resting-place  of  the  prophet.  But 
the  gods  doubtless  knew  that  he  had  two  silver 
coins  for  sacrificial  oil  and  punks,  and  permitted 
him  to  sleep  undisturbed. 

My  countrymen  agreed  that  Quan  Quock  Ming 
must  be  a  man  of  great  piety  and  wisdom,  for  he 
had  the  serenity  of  a  Buddhist  priest,  he  quoted 
the  teachings  of  Confucius,  he  worshiped  the 
Taoist  gods,  and  he  followed  the  precepts  of  all 
three  religions;  but  that  was  not  strange,  as  none 
but  the  wisest  priests  can  say  where  one  begins 


4o  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

and  another  leaves  off.  All  talked  much  of  his 
marvelous  revelations,  disputed  as  to  his  exact 
words,  argued  as  to  the  source  of  his  wisdom,  and 
discussed  the  matters  he  might  reveal,  the  con- 
sequences that  might  follow  and  the  marvelous 
power  of  one  so  gifted;  and  all  wondered  why  he 
had  taken  his  departure  from  the  land  of  exalted 
wisdom,  merciful  gods  and  beneficent  ancestors. 

Observing  that  the  men  no  longer  gambled  in 
the  evenings,  but  sat  and  smoked  in  silence,  he 
said: 

"My  sons,  do  not  let  my  presence  interrupt 
your  innocent  and  harmless  diversions,  for  time 
hangs  heavily  upon  the  hands  of  all  who  are  ig- 
norant of  the  past  and  blind  to  the  future.  There- 
fore resume  your  fan  tan  and  pat  gow,  and  do 
not  fear  to  disturb  me." 

Made  bold  by  his  tolerance,  many  sought  his 
counsel  and  advice  daily,  and  all  heard  astonish- 
ing things  of  the  past  and  amazing  things  of  the 
future;  but  from  listening  much  I  learned  that 
there  is  much  uncertainty  concerning  the  things 
that  are  to  be,  because  they  depend  upon  the 
whims  of  the  gods  rather  than  upon  a  fate  that 
is  worked  out  like  a  sum  in  mathematics;  and  one 
must  be  very  careful  not  to  offend  them  or  omit 
frequent  sacrifices  lest  something  unexpected  and 
disagreeable  happen.  Therefore,  as  Quan  Quock 
Ming  explained,  one  really  needs  to  be  told  of 
his  past  not  at  all,  but  he  should  seek  to  learn 
the  future  frequently;  and  he  told  the  bankers  of 


THE  PROPHET  SPEAKS  41 

the  games  (who  always  won),  "Good  luck  at- 
tends you  to-day,"  and  the  players  (who  usually 
lost),  "Fortune  will  be  against  you,  so  do  not 
play  to-day." 

In  return  for  the  great  service  rendered  none 
could  do  less  than  offer  him  a  tael  of  silver  for 
each  fortune  told,  and  this  he  always  wrapped 
in  red  joss  paper  to  cast  into  the  sea,  for  many 
said  they  had  seen  the  paper  thrown  when  the 
prophet  thought  he  was  not  observed  and  the  coin 
must  have  been  in  it.  That  was  well,  for  a  ter- 
rible storm  arose  and  threatened  the  destruction 
of  the  ship,  and  it  was  only  after  each  man  of 
the  company  had  given  five  taels  as  a  sacrifice  to 
the  sea  god  and  Quan  Quock  Ming  had  offered 
many  prayers  for  our  safety  that  we  were  saved. 

At  the  same  time  the  prediction  that  Lee  Jung 
would  meet  with  an  accident  was  fulfilled  in  this 
manner:  While  the  prophet  was  worshiping  the 
storm  gods  and  interceding  for  us,  he  commanded 
Lee  Jung  to  close  the  door  at  the  top  of  the  stairs 
in  the  wind  god's  face;  but  the  god  was  angry 
and  struck  the  door  a  mighty  blow  the  instant 
Lee  Jung  took  hold  of  it,  forcing  him  back;  and 
as  his  feet  touched  the  top  step  they  suddenly 
went  from  under  him  and  his  body  shot  out  into 
the  air.  I  turned  my  face  away,  but  I  heard  him 
scream  and  I  heard  him  fall;  and  when  I  looked 
again  he  was  lying  quite  still  with  one  leg  doubled 
under  him. 

In  an  hour  the  storm  was  over,  and  the  surgeon 


42  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

of  the  ship  was  putting  splints  on  Lee  Jung's  leg, 
and  everyone  was  saying: 

"It  is  miraculous!  Quan  Quock  Ming  is  a 
great  prophet,  and  he  has  saved  our  lives  I" 

I  was  running  up  the  steps  after  the  storm  to 
look  at  the  sea  when  I  slipped  at  the  top  one, 
upon  which  someone  had  carelessly  dropped 
pieces  of  soap,  and  nearly  broke  my  leg  too. 
This  the  prophet  had  not  predicted,  doubtless  be- 
cause I  was  a  mere  child  and  had  not  sacrificed 
five  tack. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  WORKING  OF  A  MIRACLE 

When  the  vessel  lay  at  an  island  port  for 
twenty-four  hours  several  went  ashore,  Quan 
Quock  Ming  among  them,  and  visited  our  coun- 
trymen, many  of  whom  had  taken  black  islanders 
for  temporary  wives.  The  first  evening  after  our 
departure  Eastward  the  prophet,  who  seemed 
more  gracious  than  usual,  said  to  Fong  Kit,  the 
owner  of  the  girl  Fong  Fah : 

"Come,  my  son.  I  have  never  told  you 
whether  you  are  to  have  good  or  bad  fortune." 

After  much  persuasion  and  a  great  deal  of  re- 
luctance Fong  Kit  selected  one  of  the  question 
sticks. 

"Aih-yah!  What  could  be  worse!"  exclaimed 
Quan  Quock  Ming  almost  as  soon  as  he  had 
glanced  at  it.  "A  great  calamity  is  impending. 
Because  of  your  wickedness  you  have  angered  the 
gods  and  brought  all  of  us  into  great  danger. 
Haie!"     He  shook  his  head  and  frowned. 

"What  is  it,  sir  scholar?"  asked  several  as 
they  cast  menacing  glances  at  Fong  Kit. 

"This  wicked  man  bought  a  widow's  daughter 
for  half  a  mat  of  rice,  promising  to  adopt  her  at 
his  daughter  and  not  to  sell  her  as  a  servant  or  a 

43 


44  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

slave,  else  he  would  have  been  compelled  to  give 
a  whole  mat  of  rice.  He  offered  her  for  sale  in 
the  land  of  the  black  islanders,  but  haggled  over 
the  price  because  he  was  told  that  he  could  get 
more  money  for  her  in  the  land  of  the  white  fan 
qttai.  Now  the  curse  of  the  gods  is  upon  him 
and  upon  all  of  his  family,  and  even  upon  the 
girl,  for  she  is  properly  his  adopted  daughter. 
They  have  sent  evil  spirits  to  give  him  the  small- 
pox, and  he  is  spreading  it  among  you." 

"But  he  and  all  the  rest  of  us  have  had  it,  sir 
scholar,  and  surely  we  cannot  have  it  again,"  said 
one. 

"The  fan  quai  are  in  great  fear  of  it,  for  they 
do  not  pass  it  from  one  child  to  another  as  we 
do;  and  if  they  find  it  among  us  we  shall  be  cast 
into  the  sea,  or  at  the  very  least  sent  back  to 
China.  To-morrow  the  pestilence  will  appear 
upon  the  face  of  Fong  Kit  for  the  second  time.  I 
have  said  it." 

"Aih-yah!  Kill  him!  Throw  him  into  the 
sea  before  the  fan  quai  see  him!"  they  shouted, 
and  Fong  Kit  clung  to  the  prophet's  leg,  begging 
to  be  saved  from  his  countrymen,  from  the  wrath 
of  the  gods  and  from  the  evil  spirits,  and  promis- 
ing to  do  anything  that  might  be  asked  of  him 
to  avert  such  a  great  misfortune  as  threatened 
his  countrymen. 

"I  shall  do  what  I  can,  but  it  is  a  very  difficult 
matter,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming,  shaking  his 
head  as  though  he  were  without  hope. 


THE  WORKING  OF  A  MIRACLE         45 

Then  he  wrote  "Yee  Ling,"  the  name  of  the 
god  of  medicines,  upon  a  slip  of  red  paper  and 
placed  it  over  the  altar  in  the  living  places,  as  we 
had  no  figure  of  the  joss  on  the  ship;  and  then  Ke 
worshiped  for  a  long  time.  Afterward  he  took  a 
vial  of  oil,  and  pouring  some  of  it  upon  another 
piece  of  joss  paper,  anointed  Fong  Kit  upon  the 
forehead  and  around  the  mouth,  for  it  is  at  these 
points  that  the  disease  first  shows  itself. 

"Now,  my  sons,  retire  each  to  his  resting-place 
and  await  the  issue,"  commanded  the  prophet. 

It  is  perfectly  true  that  by  the  very  next  morn- 
ing the  disease  had  appeared  upon  Fong  Kit's 
face. 

Being  but  a  child  I  was  permitted  to  go  to  the 
women's  quarters  and  had  seen  much  of  Fong 
Fah  and  had  spoken  freely  with  her,  though  it 
would  have  been  very  immoral  for  her  to  converse 
with  a  man;  and  I  was  very  sorry  to  learn  that 
more  misfortune  had  come  to  one  who  had  en- 
dured so  much.  She  worshiped  the  Mother  of 
Heaven  often,  and  she  never  spat  toward  the 
north,  stared  long  at  a  rainbow  or  at  the  moon, 
nor  sighed  in  front  of  the  cooking  furnace,  and  it 
did  not  seem  right  that  one  so  full  of  filial  piety 
and  reverence  for  the  gods  should  be  cursed  for 
the  sins  of  her  foster  parent.  As  she  had  grown 
quite  plump  and  appeared  very  contented,  though 
never  really  happy,  I  thought  it  probable  that  she 
did  not  know  that  she  was  accursed  and  would  be 


46  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

rcry  glad  to  learn  of  the  matter,  if  it  were  told 
to  her  gently. 

"Have  you  heard  any  strange  noises  lately?" 
I  asked. 

"Certainly,"  she  answered.  "One  hears  little 
else  upon  this  great  boat." 

"Well,  have  you  teen  any  strange  things 
about?" 

"Truly;  everything  is  strange  among  the  fan 
qua*.  The  women  all  say  that  these  wonderful 
things  could  not  have  been  done  by  men  alone, 
but  they  must  have  had  the  help  of  the  great  God, 
Sheung  Tai.  Still  they  must  be  very  clever  to 
find  a  way  to  get  Him  to  help  them." 

"Yes,  I  have  heard  the  men  say  the  very  same 
thing,"  said  I,  "but  that  is  not  what  I  mean. 
Have  you  heard,  or  seen,  or  felt  anything  that 
might  be  the  work  of  evil  spirits?'* 

"How  can  one  so  ignorant  as  I  tell  what  is 
good  and  what  is  evil  among  all  these  strange 
things?    Are  you  wise  enough  to  tell  me?" 

It  angered  me  to  be  mocked  by  her  when  I 
knew  so  much  and  she  so  little  of  a  matter  that 
was  of  such  importance  to  her,  so  I  replied: 

"You  had  best  keep  your  eyes  and  ears  open 
and  say  many  prayers  to  your  woman's  god,  for 
something  is  going  to  happen  to  you." 

"What  is  it?  Am  I  to  be  sent  back  up  the 
river,  or  is  there  a  famine  on  the  boat?" 

"I  don't  know  what  will  happen,  but  evil  spirits 


THE  WORKING  OF  A  MIRACLE         47 

will  make  you  pay  for  the  wickedness  of  Fong 
Kit.    The  prophet  has  said  it." 

"I  have  paid  for  the  sins  of  my  own  ancestors 
and  now  I  must  pay  for  Fong  Kit's.  Well,  it  is 
my  duty,  I  suppose,  if  I  am  now  his  daughter. 
I  shall  go  at  once  and  worship  the  woman's  god." 

Each  of  my  countrymen  gave  Quan  Quock 
Ming  ten  taels  of  silver  for  sacrifices,  and  after 
spending  three  days  and  nights  in  prayers  and 
supplications,  he  said: 

"My  sons,  the  gods  have  been  obdurate,  but 
at  last  they  have  yielded  and  have  shown  me  a 
way.  It  is  more  important  that  all  of  you  should 
have  happy  and  prosperous  lives  than  that  I,  who 
have  a  bad  fung  shut,  should  seek  to  live  in  peace 
and  tranquillity  before  I  have  restored  my  father's 
bones  to  the  desecrated  tomb  and  earned  the 
beneficent  protection  of  the  spirit  that  guards 
them.  Let  the  accursed  Fong  Fah  be  clothed  in 
white  with  the  red  cloth  about  her  head  as  for  the 
marriage  ceremony,  and  have  her  brought  hither 
upon  the  back  of  her  foster  mother.  I  am  com- 
manded by  the  gods,  in  order  to  save  you,  to 
marry  Fong  Fah  and  share  her  misfortunes.  I 
shall  not  require  the  letter  of  three  generations 
from  Fong  Kit,  for  I  know  Fong  Fah's  ancestry 
better  than  he;  but  if  he  demands  it  of  me" — 
his  voice  grew  loud  and  stern — "I  shall  give  him 
a  letter  of  three  hundred  generations." 

How  his  ancestors  had  been  restored  to  him 
I  never  learned,  as  Fong  Kit  declared  he  would 


48  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

not  think  of  demanding  that  their  illustrious 
names  should  be  exhibited  like  a  Hongkong 
laundryman's  list  of  soiled  linen;  but  I  suppose 
Quan  Quock  Ming  found  them  with  the  ques- 
tion sticks. 

Fong  Fah  was  carried  in  upon  the  back  of 
Fong  Kit's  wife  and  placed  in  Quan  Quock 
Ming's  berth,  for  everyone  knows  that  it  is  very 
bad  luck  for  a  bride's  feet  to  touch  the  floor  until 
she  has  reached  the  inner  chamber  of  her  hus- 
band's home,  and  that  was  the  only  home  Quan 
Quock  Ming  had.  As  soon  as  her  red  cloth  had 
been  taken  from  her  head  she  began  eating  of  the 
wedding  nuts  and  candies  that  had  been  thrown 
upon  the  berth,  and  when  Quan  Quock  Ming  was 
seated  she  knelt  at  his  feet  and  gave  him  the  two 
cups  of  wine.  As  he  drank  them  Fong  Fah 
munched  candy  and  smiled,  appearing  very  young 
and  beautiful  and  not  at  all  like  one  accursed. 

"Should  I  not  be  very  happy?"  she  asked  of 
me,  as  though  she  had  heard  my  thoughts. 
"To  get  so  fine  a  husband?" 
"No;  to  get  such  good  things  to  eat." 
It   was   miraculous   that   Fong  Kit   recovered 
within  two  days,  and  not  another  mark  was  placed 
upon  his  face.     But  the  prophet  did  not  really 
cast  the  sacrifice  money  into  the  sea,  for  I  heard 
it  jingle  in  his  pockets  as  we  were  leaving  the 
ship,  and  when  I  spoke  of  it  he  said: 

"I  am  saving  it  to  sacrifice  all  at  once  to  the 
tutelary  gods  at  the  temple." 


THE  WORKING  OF  A  MIRACLE         49 

Thus  it  was  that  Quan  Quock  Ming,  who  de- 
parted from  China  without  a  copper  cash,  with- 
out womenfolk,  without  ancestry  and  altogether 
unknown,  arrived  in  the  land  of  the  fan  qtiai  with 
more  than  a  thousand  taels  of  silver,  a  young 
wife,  three  hundred  ancestors  and  a  great  repu- 
tation for  piety  and  wisdom. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   COMING  OF  THE   LAW 

When  I  boasted  to  my  uncle  of  the  remark- 
able friend  I  had  found,  and  told  him  how  Quan 
Quock  Ming  had  left  China  without  money, 
without  womenfolk  and  without  ancestors;  how 
he  had  foretold  many  marvelous  things;  how  he 
had  saved  our  lives  quite  miraculously;  and  how 
he  had  arrived  in  the  land  of  t  le  fan  quai  with 
much  money,  a  young  wife  and  three  hundred 
ancestors,  my  uncle  smiled  knowingly  and  said: 

uHe  must  be  a  very  clever  man." 

"He  is  a  very  wise  priest  and  a  great  prophet," 
said  I,  but  my  uncle  merely  wagged  his  head 
doubtfully,  though  there  came  a  time  long  after- 
ward when  he  said  quite  seriously: 

"Quan  Quock  Ming  is  either  a  very  great 
prophet  or  a  very  clever  man;  and  there  is  little 
difference,  my  son." 

For  a  few  days  after  our  arrival  there  was 
much  discussion  among  my  people  concerning  the 
extraordinary  events  of  the  voyage,  all  who  had 
seen  and  heard  Quan  Quock  Ming,  saying 
"prophet,"  and  all  who  had  not  saying  "man." 
Then,  as  the  former  were  few  and  the  latter 
many,  and  all  had  much  else  to  think  of  and  to 

50 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  LAW       51 

talk  about,  he  became  just  as  another  Chinese  and 
was  almost  forgotten.  But  I  met  him  on  the 
street  one  day  as  I  was  about  to  buy  some  sugar- 
cane, and  he  spoke  kindly  to  me  and  I  politely 
to  him.  That  he  remembered  me  at  all  was  sur- 
prising; but  when  he  told  me  he  had  never  for- 
gotten me  and  at  that  very  moment  had  a  luck 
charm  he  had  made  for  me,  it  was  astonishing; 
and  when  Quan  Quock  Ming  explained  to  me  the 
necessity  of  making  a  small  sacrifice  at  the  Tien 
How  temple  to  make  the  charm  more  potent,  I 
was  glad  to  give  him  the  ten-cent  piece  my  uncle 
had  given  me. 

Then  he  told  me  in  a  few  words  that  he  had 
sacrificed  every  cent  of  his  money  to  the  gods,  but 
they  had  in  no  wise  relented;  that  evil  spirits  still 
pursued  him  and  his  accursed  wife,  Fong  Fah — 
him,  because  of  the  wickedness  of  those  who  had 
desecrated  his  father's  grave  and  brought  to  him 
a  bad  fung  shut,  and  her,  because  of  the  iniquity 
of  her  foster-father — and  that  their  misfortune;, 
continually  multiplied. 

"Just  see  what  has  happened  now!"  he  ex- 
claimed with  great  bitterness.  "The  swine  of  a 
woman  has  borne  me  a  pig  of  a  daughter." 

Then  he  asked  if  I  were  attending  school;  and 
when  I  said  I  was  not,  he  generously  offered  to 
instruct  me  in  the  classics  if  I  could  induce  my 
uncle  to  pay  the  cost  and  could  procure  some 
other  pupils.  As  there  were  few  teachers  and 
many  boys  I  got  about  twenty  to  go  to  him,  and 


52  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

to  compensate  me  he  gave  me  the  seat  of  honor 
at  his  left.  He  was  a  conscientious  instructor 
and  forced  his  pupils  to  work  diligently,  espe- 
cially in  the  practice  of  writing,  saying: 

"Write  all  you  know  of  your  illustrious  ances- 
try, and  when  you  have  done  that  write  of  your 
good  friends  and  their  honorable  ancestors  and 
of  your  bad  enemies  and  their  wicked  progeni- 
tors, and  of  all  that  happens  daily.  Write  of 
everything  that  you  hear  and  see,  for  writing  is 
very  important." 

We  did  as  we  were  commanded,  and  Quan 
Quock  Ming  manifested  always  a  keen,  kindly 
and  patient  interest  in  all  that  we  wrote,  reading 
it  carefully,  asking  many  questions  and  making 
corrections  where  we  had  made  errors,  and  seem- 
ing never  to  tire  in  his  efforts  to  get  us  to  ob- 
serve, to  inquire  and  to  record.  He  often  com- 
mended us  for  our  diligence  and  rarely  had  occa- 
sion to  reprove  us  for  idleness  or  stupidity.  He 
seldom  beat  us  on  the  heads  with  his  stick,  and 
even  on  such  occasions  expressed  profound  re- 
gret that  his  tender  heart  would  not  permit  him 
to  punish  us  with  deserved  severity.  Only  once 
within  my  recollection  did  he  become  exceedingly 
angry,  and  that  was  when  Hong  Yee,  who  had 
received  instruction  in  the  school  of  the  foreign- 
ers, wrote  of  a  friend  he  had  never  seen  named 
Jesus,  the  Son  of  God  who  was  the  first  ances- 
tor of  the  Chinese  as  well  as  the  fan  quai. 

"Haie— el"  roared  Quan  Quock  Ming.    "You 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  LAW        53 

are  an  unfilial  little  beast!"  and  he  gave  Hong 
Yee  a  tremendous  thrashing.  "That  will  teach 
you  not  to  believe  what  the  fan  quai  tell  you, 
for  they  are  very  impious  and  great  liars  as  well. 
Everyone  knows  that  there  is  no  family  in  the 
Middle  Kingdom  of  the  surname  of  God,  and 
if  there  ever  had  been  such  an  ancestor  His 
memory  would  have  been  preserved  by  His 
descendants." 

To  be  starved  in  China  or  stoned  in  America 
was  the  alternative  that  confronted  my  country- 
men, so  they  came  to  a  strange  and  inhospitable 
land  and  faced  the  angry  foreign  devils,  smiling 
much  and  complaining  little  as  they  took  bread 
and  stones  together.  Having  no  official  to  speak 
for  them,  either  to  beg  tolerance  or  to  demand 
justice,  they  formed  themselves  into  societies, 
according  to  the  district  whence  they  came,  for 
their  mutual  benefit  and  protection;  and  when 
the  presidents  of  these  societies  met  together  to 
consider  matters  of  moment  affecting  all  Chinese 
alike  they  were  known  as  the  Six  Companies. 
But  even  they  could  not  obtain  justice,  and  in 
consequence  there  was  much  discontent  among 
my  people. 

When  the  Six  Companies  ordered  a  great  pub- 
lic meeting  to  discuss  the  matter,  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  who  had  been  mentioned  frequently  as  a 
man  of  great  learning  and  wisdom,  though  his 
face  was  scarcely  known,  was  invited  to  attend; 
and  everyone  was  astonished  when  he  strode  in 


54  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

quite  late  and,  without  pausing  even  to  look  to 
the  right  or  the  left  or  to  make  the  usual  salu- 
tations, took  the  seat  of  honor  at  the  left  of  the 
president,  Lee  Tsi  Bong,  but  his  appearance  was 
so  impressive  that  none  of  the  other  presidents 
dared  to  ask  him  to  take  a  lower  seat,  though 
they  scowled  with  displeasure. 

Through  the  whole  meeting  he  sat  on  the  edge 
of  his  chair  with  his  knees  wide  apart  and  a  hand 
on  each,  his  shoulders  straight,  his  head  erect 
and  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  scrolls  from  the  clas- 
sics that  hung  on  the  wall  opposite;  and  Lee  Tsi 
Bong  seemed  to  shrink  and  Quan  Quock  Ming  to 
expand  with  each  moment  that  passed,  until  all 
spoke  toward  him,  though  he  noticed  them  no 
more  than  a  joss  would  a  rag-picker  or  a  woman. 

"Honorable  sirs,"  spoke  Lee  Tsi  Bong,  "this 
is  a  strange  country  of  strange  people  and  strange 
ways;  a  country  where  men  respect  even  a  big- 
footed  woman  but  have  no  reverence  for  their 
elders;  where  women  are  permitted  to  associate 
with  men  in  public  places  and  even  to  transact 
business;  where  no  one  worships  his  ancestors, 
and  few  have  ancestors  to  worship;  where  all 
touch  the  filthy  hands  of  one  another  on  meeting 
instead  of  each  shaking  his  own;  where  men  take 
off  their  hats  instead  of  their  shoes  on  enter- 
ing the  home  of  a  friend;  where  all  have  pale 
sickly  faces  and  staring  eyes,  and  the  men  have 
big  beards  and  bald  heads;  where  young  men 
have  the  effrontery  to  wear  beards  before  they 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  LAW        55 

have  lived  forty  years;  where  every  one  boasts 
loudly  of  much  law  and  great  justice  for  all, 
though  there  is  none  for  us.  Now  what  can  we 
do  about  all  this?" 

uThe  fan  quai  have  many  magistrates,"  said 
Chew  Foo,  the  interpreter,  "and  lawyers  are  as 
numerous  and  as  busy  as  cockroaches  in  a  kitchen. 
Each  has  many  rooms  filled  with  books,  and 
every  book  is  filled  with  laws  upon  every  subject 
that  men  may  dispute  over — even  laws  concern- 
ing the  driving  of  horses,  the  catching  of  shrimps, 
the  picking  of  chickens,  the  beating  of  wives 
and  all  such  trifling  matters.  Yet,  when  we  have 
disputes  and  buy  a  big  lawyer  at  a  high  price, 
we  often  lose,  though  we  have  plenty  of  money 
to  pay  the  magistrate." 

"Now  I  would  like  to  know  what  sense  there 
is  in  buying  a  lawyer  to  lose  a  case,  when  one  can 
just  as  well  lose  without  paying  a  copper  cash!" 
shouted  Jeong  Chuey,  the  merchant,  and  every- 
one said: 

"Hi  low!  That  is  true!"  and  all  nodded 
their  heads  many  times. 

"Even  when  a  magistrate  is  paid  by  us  to  de- 
cide a  cause  in  our  favor,"  continued  Chew  Foo, 
"another  magistrate  says  he  was  wrong  and  or- 
ders him  to  decide  against  us,  but  we  never  get 
our  money  back.  There  is  a  magistrate  for 
widows  and  orphans,  a  magistrate  for  promis- 
sory notes  and  other  debts,  a  magistrate  for  gam- 
bling and  a  magistrate  for  murder,  and  there  are 


56  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

still  other  magistrates  over  all  these  to  say  that 
the  lesser  magistrates  are  ignoramuses.  There 
are  magistrates  for  the  city,  for  the  district,  for 
the  province  and  for  the  whole  country.  Our 
disputes  are  taken  from  one  to  another,  and  be- 
fore each  a  lawyer  reads  from  his  books  saying 
the  law  is  thus  and  so;  and  then  the  opposing 
lawyer  reads  from  other  books  saying  it  is  not 
thus  and  so,  but  this  and  that.  The  magistrate 
listens,  finally  saying  what  the  law  is,  and  then 
the  lawyer  who  is  dissatisfied  takes  the  matter 
before  another  magistrate,  who  says  that  the  first 
made  a  mistake.  If  anyone  ever  finds  out  what 
the  law  is,  there  are  other  officials  who  change  it 
at  once,  so  that  no  one  ever  knows  it,  though  it  is 
the  law  that  everyone  must  know  it.  So  if  you 
pause  to  look  into  the  window  of  a  fan  quai  and 
a  foreign  devil  kicks  you,  you  say  to  yourself: 
'That  must  be  a  new  law'  and  you  pass  on.  It  is 
not  so  in  our  country,  for  there  the  law  is  cer- 
tain, the  decision  prompt  and  the  punishment 
swift." 

"Chew  Foo  speaks  truly,"  said  Chin  Dock, 
the  butcher,  "but  he  is  from  Canton  and  knows 
more  of  magistrates  and  less  of  law  than  we 
who  are  from  the  interior.  In  the  coast  cities 
men  of  all  families,  the  Wongs,  the  Lims,  the 
Lees,  the  Louies  and  the  Chins,  are  intermingled, 
but  in  the  interior  districts  each  family  has  a 
village  of  its  own,  in  which  none  but  clansmen 
live;  and  the  heavenly  dynasty  expects  each  fam- 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  LAW        57 

ily  to  do  all  things  that  are  necessary  to  regulate 
itself,  so  the  elders  of  the  villages  sit  as  judges 
and  administer  the  law  among  their  own  kins- 
men. When  they  decide,  all  must  obey,  for  that 
is  the  law." 

"That  is  quite  true,"  spoke  Wong  You,  "for 
when  Wong  Yick  killed  Wong  Lock  and  fled  to 
the  rice-fields  his  father  and  grandfather  were  at 
once  imprisoned  by  the  elders  of  the  village  of 
the  Wongs,  and  the  very  next  day,  as  Wong 
Yick  had  not  surrendered  himself,  they  were 
taken  out  to  the  river  to  be  drowned.  Everyone 
knows  that  such  a  law  is  just  and  proper,  for 
the  elders  of  a  family,  who  must  be  obeyed,  are 
responsible  for  the  conduct  of  their  direct  de- 
scendants. When  the  weights  had  already  been 
tied  to  their  feet,  and  everyone  was  saying 
'What  an  unfilial  and  impious  son  Wong  Yick 
is  to  let  his  elders  die  this  way/  and  all  stood 
with  their  heads  bowed  in  shame  for  Wong 
Yick,  he  came  running  from  the  fields  and  was 
drowned  at  once,  thus  saving  the  family's  face 
and  proving  that  he  was  a  good  son.  And  it  was 
all  a  matter  that  concerned  only  the  family  of 
Wong,  and  in  which  neither  the  magistrates  nor 
other  families  had  any  interest." 

"I  remember  once,"  spoke  Lim  Toy,  "that  a 
Lee  man  was  killed  in  the  village  of  the  Lims, 
and  the  elders  of  the  Lee  village  complained  to 
the  elders  of  the  Lim  family,  demanding  that 
the  slayer  be  killed  or  that  the  village  pay  the 


58  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

relatives  of  the  Lee  man  one  hundred  taels 
of  silver  as  compensation.  But  the  elders  of  the 
Lim  village  proved  that  the  Lee  man  had  vis- 
ited a  married  woman  of  the  Lim  village  when 
her  husband  was  not  at  home,  and  the  elders  of 
the  Lee  village  were  forced  to  say:  'It  is  right 
that  he  should  have  been  killed,  for  that  is  a 
terrible  crime,  and  we  bow  our  heads  in  shame.' 
But  had  it  not  been  proven,  the  Lim  village 
would  have  been  forced  to  pay  the  money,  or 
the  Lee  men  would  have  been  quite  right  in  kill- 
ing an  elder  of  the  Lim  village;  and  they  would 
have  killed  man  for  man  until  peacetalkers  from 
a   friendly  village  could  arrange  a  compromise. 

"In  these  things  no  one  complains  to  the  mag- 
istrates, for  all  learned  many  centuries  ago  that 
they  imprison  and  torture  litigants,  those  in  the 
right  as  well  as  those  in  the  wrong,  and  the  wit- 
nesses for  both  sides,  until  they  and  all  their 
clansmen  have  not  a  single  cash  left.  Then  per- 
haps all  are  punished  for  making  so  much 
bother.  So  it  has  come  to  be  the  law  that  fam- 
ily matters  shall  be  settled  by  the  families.  Thus 
justice  is  done,  and  peace  and  good  order  are 
maintained/' 

"Hi  low!"  shouted  Chew  Foo.  "But  how  is 
it  in  this  country?  If  a  Lim  kill  a  Lee  the  fan 
quai  interfere  and  take  him  to  prison.  The  mag- 
istrate of  deaths  says  he  killed  the  Lee  man;  the 
magistrate  of  small  crimes  says  he  killed  the  Lee 
man;   the    magistrate    of   great    crimes    and    his 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  LAW        59 

twelve  assistants  say  he  killed  the  Lee  man;  and 
after  a  year  or  two  the  great  magistrate  say  he 
killed  the  Lee  man,  but  it  was  not  properly 
proven.  Then  the  lesser  magistrate  and  his  as- 
sistants again  say  that  he  killed  the  Lee  man, 
and  in  another  year  or  two  the  greater  magis- 
trates say  that  he  did  not  kill  the  Lee  man,  but 
if  he  did,  it  was  not  proven.  Then  the  Lim 
man  is  released,  though  you  all  know  it  is  the 
law  of  our  country  that  he  who  kills  another 
must  prove  he  is  innocent.  And  that  is  a  very 
good  law,  for  who  knows  so  much  about  the 
matter  as  the  one  who  commits  the  crime?" 

"But  that  is  not  the  worst  of  the  matter," 
spoke  Lee  Tsi  Bong.  "Everyone  knows  that  no 
good  luck  can  come  from  the  spirit  of  a  relative 
if  his  body  be  buried  before  his  murderer  is  pun- 
ished. You  may  as  well  bury  one  with  his  feet 
to  the  north  and  be  done  with  it.  Now,  how 
can  we  keep  our  relatives  unburied  for  three  or 
four  years  while  lawyers  and  magistrates  dis- 
pute about  the  matter?  It  is  very  unreasonable 
to  expect  such  a  thing.  Without  a  doubt,  sir 
scholar,  whose  honorable  surname  I  am  told  is 
Quan,  you  can  advise  us  wisely  upon  this  per- 
plexing matter." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  sat  for  a  moment  as  though 
he  had  not  heard,  and  then  rose  with  great  de- 
liberation and  took  from  beneath  his  long  coat 
the  question  sticks  with  which  he  interrogated 
the  gods  when  telling  fortunes.     He  shook  them 


60  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

in  his  hands  and  held  them  toward  Lee  Tsi  Bong, 
who  selected  one. 

MI  know  naught  of  you,  naught  of  your  illus- 
trious ancestors,  naught  of  your  business  affairs, 
and  naught  of  all  the  things  that  perplex  you," 
he  said  as  he  took  the  stick  chosen  by  Lee  Tsi 
Bong,  "but  this  reveals  all  to  me." 

Then  he  took  from  his  pocket  a  pair  of  large 
spectacles,  which  made  him  appear  so  important 
when  they  were  on  the  end  of  his  nose  that  no 
one  thought  of  the  discourtesy,  and  through 
them  he  studied  the  mysterious  characters  on 
the  stick,  while  everyone  kept  very  still  waiting 
for  the  sage  to  speak.  At  last  he  raised  his 
chin  high  and  looking  at  Lee  Tsi  Bong  through 
his  spectacles,  said: 

"You  are  Lee  Tsi  Bong,  son  of  Lee  Soo  Doon, 
and  he  was  the  son  of  Lee  King  Chong.  You 
are  a  merchant,  your  father  was  a  merchant,  and 
your  grandfather  was  a  merchant;  and  all  of 
you  have  prospered,  except  that  your  grand- 
father's store  in  Canton  was  once  burned,  and 
you  were  once  cheated  by  a  foreign  devil  in  this 
country,  whereby  you  lost  $1200.  Is  it  not 
so?" 

UH%  low'*  assented  Lee  Tsi  Bong,  while  many 
others  murmured  "marvelous,"  "wonderful,"  and 
similar  words,  for  all  that  Quan  Quock  Ming 
had  said  was  quite  true. 

"All  that  lies  behind  you  in  your  life  and  in 
the  lives  of  your  ancestors,"  continued  the  sage, 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  LAW        61 

"is  revealed  by  this  question  stick,  but  it  is  of 
more  important  matters  that  lie  in  the  future 
that  you  would  know.  They  are  equally  clear 
and  certain,  provided  you  follow  the  tao — the 
way — but  if  you  turn  to  the  right  or  to  the  left, 
you  may  offend  the  spirits  of  your  ancestors,  and 
their  malignant  influence  will  change  all." 

Everyone  had  risen  and  many  had  pressed  for- 
ward to  hear  more  distinctly  all  that  he  might 
say,  and  when  he  observed  it  he  frowned  upon 
the  people  and  waved  them  back  with  his 
hands,  so  that  all  took  their  seats  hastily  and 
stretched  their  necks  greatly.  When  all  were 
still  again  he  said: 

"This  is  a  very  simple  matter.  If  the  gods 
of  the  fan  quai  are  not  beneficent,  worship  your 
own;  if  the  attire  of  the  fan  quai  is  not  com- 
fortable, wear  your  own;  if  the  food  of  the  fan 
quai  is  not  savory,  eat  your  own;  if  the  law  of 
the  fan  quai  is  not  reasonable,  make  your  own — 
and  live  in  peace  and  comfort.  Is  that  not  wis- 
dom?" 

"Hi  low!"  shouted  everyone,  and  all  nodded 
their  heads  many  times. 

"The  great  master  said:  'To  govern  simply 
by  statute,  and  to  reduce  all  to  order  by  means  of 
pains  and  penalties,  is  to  render  the  people 
evasive  and  devoid  of  any  sense  of  shame.1  So 
let  all  of  the  surname  of  Wong  form  one  tong; 
all  of  the  surname  of  Lee  another,  and  all  of  the 
surname  of  Lim  another,  until  each  family  shall 


62  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

have  its  own  society  governed  by  the  elders. 
Then,  though  you  of  different  families  mingle 
under  the  same  roof,  you  will  still  have  your  vil- 
lage law  and  government,  so  that  when  a  Chin 
man  wrongs  a  Chin  man,  complaint  may  be  laid 
before  the  elders  of  the  Chin  family  tong  for 
settlement;  and  when  a  Wong  man  wrongs  a  Lee 
man,  the  elders  of  the  Lee  family  man  complain 
to  the  elders  of  the  Wong  family,  and  the  mat- 
ter may  be  adjusted.  If  the  elders  refuse  to  do 
justice,  let  those  of  the  complaining  family  pro- 
ceed as  they  would  in  their  own  country.  But 
let  no  one  complain  to  the  fan  quai  officials  or 
magistrates,  but  let  all  submit  their  own  affairs 
to  their  own  people  for  adjustment  under  their 
own  laws.'* 

Everyone  shouted  his  approval,  and  all  pressed 
forward  to  converse  at  greater  length  with  the 
philosopher,  but  he  walked  out  of  the  meeting- 
place  with  long,  slow  strides,  keeping  his  eyes 
straight  ahead  of  him  and  saying  not  another 
word,  though  many  important  persons  addressed 
him  and  sought  by  questions  to  detain  him. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  CLAN 

The  Chins,  the  Wongs,  the  Lees  and  the  Lims 
were  numerous,  and  the  tong  of  each  family  was 
strong;  but  the  Quans,  the  Loos,  the  Jeongs 
and  the  Chews  were  few,  so  they  united  in  one 
society,  naming  it  the  Tin  Yee,  or  Four  Family 
tong,  and  taking  an  oath  of  great  solemnity  that 
bound  them  together  as  brothers  of  one  clan. 

Chew  Foo  had  been  in  this  country  long  and 
spoke  the  language  well,  so  he  found  profitable 
employment  as  a  chut  fan  in  dealings  with  the 
fan  quai;  but  when  there  were  few  complaints 
to  the  magistrates,  interpreters  earned  little 
money.  Then  he  began  to  whisper  to  the  offi- 
cials, to  the  writers  of  news  and  to  the  mission- 
aries concerning  the  doings  of  the  gamblers  and 
slave  dealers,  receiving  pay  for  his  tales  and 
making  much  trouble  for  my  people,  for  the 
foreign  devils  had  made  crimes  of  the  things 
that  had  been  lawful  among  us  for  centuries. 

Chew  Foo  had  always  a  double  face.  To  the 
fan  quai  he  was  a  Christian  who  abhorred  the 
ways  of  gamblers  and  slave  dealers,  and  to  the 
Chinese  he  was  a  believer  in  our  gods  and  our 
laws  who  hated  the  meddlesome  foreign  devils. 

63 


64  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

He  sang  songs  and  said  prayers  at  the  mission, 
offered  sacrifices  and  took  oaths  at  the  Tien  How 
temple,  played  fan  tan  in  the  gambling-houses 
and  drank  sam  shu  with  the  slave  girls,  all  in 
one  day;  and  though  he  was  greatly  suspected  he 
was  so  sly  that  none  could  get  proof  against 
him,  so  he  lived,  had  sons  and  prospered. 

Chew  Foo  was  strolling  through  the  small 
streets  at  night  when  a  slave  girl,  whom  he  had 
never  seen  before,  smiled  upon  him  through  her 
grated  wicket,  and  he  paused  to  speak  with 
her. 

"Your  face  is  as  beautiful  as  the  full  moon," 
he  said. 

"What  is  your  honorable  surname  ?"  she 
asked,  still  smiling  at  the  compliment. 

"I  am  of  the  family  of  Chew,"  he  replied. 

"I,  too,  am  of  that  family." 

She  quickly  drew  her  curtain,  for  it  is  a  hein- 
ous crime,  and  the  proper  punishment  is  death, 
for  any  man  to  take  as  his  wife  or  slave  one  of 
his  own  clan,  even  though  their  common  ancestor 
may  have  been  dead  two  thousand  years. 

Chew  Foo  often  walked  that  way,  just  to  see 
her  face  in  passing,  always  saying  to  himself: 
"How  unfortunate!"  One  evening  he  spoke  to 
her  softly  and  kindly. 

"Your  life  is  very  hard  for  one  so  young  and 
beautiful,"  he  said.  "Why  not  leave  it  for  a 
better?" 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  CLAN  65 

"What  can  I  do?  Where  can  I  go?"  she 
asked. 

"To  the  fan  qual  mission  home." 

"No,  no!  Everyone  tells  me  that  girls  are 
taken  there  only  to  be  tortured  and  killed." 

"That  is  a  wicked  lie  to  frighten  you.  There 
a  pleasant  home  will  be  provided  you,  instruc- 
tion in  many  useful  things  will  be  given  you, 
only  pleasant  tasks  will  be  imposed  upon  you, 
and  very  soon  a  fine  husband  will  be  found  for 
you.  I  can  have  the  woman  of  the  mission  come 
for  you  early  in  the  morning,  when  your  owner 
and  the  old  woman  who  guards  you  are  sleep- 
ing.    Will  you  go?" 

"I  will  go." 

'At  the  mission  Chew  Foo  said  long  prayers 
and  sang  loud  songs,  and  then  told  in  whispers 
of  the  slave  girl  who  wanted  to  escape.  The 
woman  of  the  mission  went  in  the  early  morning, 
found  the  giFl  crouching  on  the  dark  stairs,  cry- 
ing and  shivering  with  fright,  and  hurried  her 
away  in  a  carnage — but  not  to  the  mission. 

"Her  owner  will  run  quickly  and  buy  a  law- 
yer, who  will  have  her  taken  before  a  magis- 
trate," whispered  Chew  Foo.  "Many  will  be 
there  to  frighten  her  with  threats,  and  she  will 
say  she  does  not  want  to  stay  in  the  mission. 
Then  her  owner  will  get  her  back.  I  will  hide 
her  in  my  own  home  until  you  can  get  a  magis- 
trate's paper  saying  that  you  may  keep  her  as 
your  daughter." 


66  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

When  Chew  Foo  took  her  in  at  the  front 
door  of  his  home,  he  smiled  on  the  mission 
woman,  saying:  "I  will  keep  her  for  you";  but 
when  he  took  her  out  the  back  door  and  hid  her 
in  the  foreign  part  of  the  city  he  smiled  on  the 
girl,  saying:  UI  will  keep  you  for  myself." 

The  owner  of  the  slave,  a  man  of  the  family 
of  Jeong,  soon  learned  of  the  wickedness  of 
Chew  Foo,  and  he  complained  to  the  elders  of 
the  Four  Family  tong,  saying: 

"Chew  Foo,  a  bond  brother  of  our  tong,  has 
stolen  my  slave,  and  the  family  of  Chew  must 
reimburse  me.  He  has  taken  her  for  a  secondary 
wife,  though  she  is  of  the  same  clan,*  but  the 
family  of  Chew  may  deal  with  that  unspeakable 
crime  as  it  will." 

The  elders  ordered  Chew  Foo  to  show  his  face 
and  prove  his  innocence,  but  he  knew  he  was 
guilty,  and  would  surely  be  punished  by  the 
Chinese  law.  So  he  hurried  to  the  woman  of 
the  mission,  the  writers  of  news  and  the  fan 
quai  officials,  crying  loudly  that  his  wicked  coun- 
trymen intended  to  kill  the  slave  girl  for  escap- 
ing and  him  for  aiding  her,  and  begged  for  the 
protection  of  the  fan  quai  law.  And  while  all 
the  foreign  devils  were  smiling,  nodding  their 
heads  and  saying:  "Chew  Foo  is  a  good  Chris- 
tian and  must  be  protected,"  all  his  people  were 
frowning,  shaking  their  heads  and  saying:  "Chew 
Foo  is  a  bad  Chinaman  and  must  be  punished." 

When   Chew   Foo   did  not  show   his   face   at 


s 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  CLAN  67 

the  meeting  of  the  Four  Family  tong  the  elders 
said: 

"One  of  the  family  of  Chew  has  stolen  a 
slave  from  one  of  the  family  of  Jeong,  and  it  is 
proper  that  the  family  of  Chew  should  pay 
$2000  to  the  Jeong  man.  There  is  another  mat- 
ter which  shame  forbids  us  to  mention.  Let  the 
family  of  Chew   regulate  itself." 

Then  the  Quans,  the  Loos  and  the  Jeongs 
departed  silently  and  without  the  usual  polite- 
ness, while  the  Chews  sat  with  their  heads  bowed 
in  shame  and  the  waters  of  sorrow  filling  their 
eyes.  It  was  long  before  any  spoke,  but  the  first 
was  Chew  Lim,  the  blood  brother  of  Chew 
Foo. 

"Honorable  kinsmen,"  said  he,  "one  of  the 
family  of  Chew  has  wronged  one  of  the  fam- 
ily of  Jeong.  Therefore  let  each  contribute  ac- 
cording to  his  means,  so  we  may  promptly  pay 
that  which  is  justly  due.     It  that  not  proper?" 

"Hi  low!"  answered  all. 

"The  detestable  one,  whose  name  is  too  ab- 
horrent to  be  mentioned,  has  also  committed 
such  an  abominable  crime  that  he  has  brought 
shame  and  disgrace  upon  all  of  his  king  ti  in  this 
country.  Wherever  we  go  men  speak  in  whis- 
pers and  turn  away,  and  we  of  the  family  of 
Chew  are  as  lepers  who  have  lost  their  faces, 
until  he  has  been  punished.  It  is  the  law  that 
he  and  the  filthy  female  shall  die.  Is  it  not 
so?" 


68  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Hi  low!" 

"Then,  though  he  is  my  elder  brother,  who 
•lone  of  my  family  his  sons  to  worship  our  hon- 
orable ancestors,  I  shall  kill  them  both.  Now 
let  me  take  the  oath  of  the  punk." 

Kneeling  before  the  altar  of  the  tong,  with  the 
punk  between  the  palms  of  his  hands,  the  burn- 
ing end  downward,  he  said: 

"In  order  that  we  may  dwell  together  har- 
moniously, that  we  may  save  the  faces  of  our 
family,  and  that  we  may  preserve  the  honored 
name  of  our  ancestors,  I  swear  that  I  will  kill 
the  one  of  the  unspeakable  name  and  the  swin- 
ish woman.  If  I  fail,  may  I  die  like  this  punk!" 
and  he  crushed  the  burning  end  upon  the  floor. 

"That  is  good,"  said  all,  as  they  went  their 
several  ways,  walking  slowly  with  bowed  heads; 
but  they  knew  their  heavy  hearts  would  soon  be 
lightened. 

Chew  Lim  knocked  lightly  on  the  door  of 
Chew  Foo's  home. 

"Who  is  there?" 

"Your  younger  brother,  Ah  Lim." 

Chew  Foo's  wife  opened  the  door  to  him, 
poured  him  a  cup  of  tea  and  waited  for  him  to 
speak. 

"Where  is  my  elder  brother?"  he  asked. 

"I  do  not  know,"  she  answered.  "He  is  hid- 
ing somewhere  in  the  foreign  part  of  the  city," 
and  she  began  to  cry. 

"Why  does  he  hide?" 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  CLAN  69 

"Do  you  not  know  that  he  foolishly  took  the 
slave  of  another  without  paying  for  her?" 

MI  know  that  you  are  a  very  bold  woman  to 
criticize  your  husband,  especially  for  such  a 
small  thing." 

"Can't  something  he  done  about  it?" 

"Yes,  it  can  be  arranged.  When  can  I  see 
him?" 

"He  comes  home  sometimes  at  night  dis- 
guised as  a  foreigner.  Wait  and  you  may  see 
him." 

Chew  Foo  came,  and  he  was  filled  with  sur- 
prise and  fear  to  find  Chew  Lim  waiting  for 
him. 

"Elder  brother,  you  hare  done  a  very  fool- 
ish thing  in  stealing  the  slave  of  a  bond  brother," 
said  Chew  Lim,  "and  your  king  ti  are  very  angry 
with  you,  but  I  shall  deal  justly  with  you, 
for  you  are  my  elder  brother  and  have  sons. 
First  tell  me  where  this  girl  is,  that  I  may  send 
her  where  she  belongs." 

Chew  Foo  had  not  told  his  wife  that  the  girl 
was  of  the  Chew  family,  and  when  he  thought 
his  brother  did  not  know  it  he  became  bolder. 

"Why  is  the  Jeong  man  talking  so  loudly 
about  it?  I  will  pay  him  when  I  get  the 
money." 

"Let  the  king  ti  pay  the  Jeong  one  for  his 
slave,"  said  Chew  Foo's  wife,  "and  my  honor- 
able husband  will  repay  them.  Then  let  him 
take  her  for  a  secondary  wife,  for  anyone  can 


70  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

see  that  I  am  no  longer  young  or  beautiful.  My 
husband  can  provide  well  for  two  wives,  so  why 
should  he  not  have  them?" 

"That  is  true,"  said  Chew  Lim. 

"Yes,  that  is  reasonable,"  said  Chew  Foo. 
"I  earn  much  money  and  can  repay  the  king  ti 
in  a  short  time." 

"I  fear  our  family  would  grumble  at  the  ex- 
pense and  the  delay  in  repayment,"  said  Chew 
Lim,  "but  I  shall  see  what  can  be  done." 

It  was  very  late  when  Chew  Foo  and  Chew 
Lim,  walking  on  the  dark  sides  of  the  streets, 
went  to  Chew  Foo's  hiding-place,  but  the  girl 
was  waiting  and  gave  them  tea  and  noodles. 
Though  the  brothers  conversed  in  a  friendly 
way,  and  Chew  Lim  politely  took  no  notice  of 
her,  still  she  was  filled  with  fear  and  forebod- 
ing and  cast  many  apprehensive  glances  toward 
him. 

"Younger  brother,  walk  slowly  and  sleep 
well,"  said  Chew  Foo  when  Chew  Lim  had  taken 
the  parting  cup  of  tea. 

"Elder  brother,  sleep  long  and  soundly,"  re- 
plied Chew  Lim,  and  his  knife  found  Chew 
Foo's  heart  twice  before  he  could  fall  or  utter 
a  cry. 

The  girl  stared  stupidly  for  a  moment,  then 
covered  her  face  with  her  hands  and  sank  to  the 
floor,  moaning  and  crying  softly: 

"I  didn't  know  the  people;  I  didn't  know  the 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  CLAN  71 

language ;  I  didn't  know  what  to  do,  or  where  to 

«°" 

"You    shall  go  with   him,"   said   Chew  Lim, 

and  the   blood  of  the   cousins   mingled   on   the 
floor. 

The  fan  quai  newspapers  said  a  highbinder 
did  it,  and  that  is  a  strange  word  to  me;  the 
magistrate  of  deaths  said  he  knew  not  who  did 
it,  and  it  was  a  strange  crime  to  him;  my  coun- 
trymen said  not  a  word,  but  they  knew  Chew 
Lim  did  it;  and  it  was  not  strange  to  them.  It 
was  the  law. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   MORTGAGED    8LATE  GIRL 

Aih-yah!  The  newspapers  of  the  foreign 
devils  say  that  I  am  a  highbinder.  Hai-c-e !  That 
is  a  very  bad  name  for  a  good  man,  but  a  very 
good  name  for  a  bad  man.  It  is  perfectly  true 
that  I  am  a  member  of  the  Gai  Sin  Sear  tong,  and 
that  is  a  fighting  society.  But  I  do  not  fight. 
When  the  hatchetmen  of  my  tong  go  out  to  kill 
or  to  be  killed,  I  help  to  piy  the  expenses  and  hide 
until  the  war  is  over. 

When  I  wear  the  fan  quai  attire  and  speak  the 
fan  quai  tongue  the  foreign  devils  say  "Little  Pete 
is  a  sport ;**  but  my  countrymen  say  "Fung  Ching 
is  a  rich  man.**  A  highbinder  finds  more  profit  in 
blackmailing  one  who  is  wealthy  and  more  honor 
in  killing  one  who  is  conspicuous,  and  if  it  were 
not  for  the  protection  that  my  membership  in  a 
fighting  tong  assures,  I  could  never  keep  the 
money  I  earn  honestly  by  betting  on  running 
horses,  playing  fan  tan,  bribing  officials  and  deal- 
ing in  smuggled  opium  and  slaves.  Any  high- 
binder could  hold  his  weapon  to  my  head,  saying, 
"Give  me  your  money,*'  and  I  would  have  to  give. 
If  I  should  then  complain  to  the  fan  quai  officials 
I  would  lose  my  life  as  well  as  my  money. 

72 


THE  MORTGAGED  SLAVE  GIRL        73 

Highbinder !  Hai-e-ef  That  is  a  strange  word 
to  the  Chinese  and  a  strange  person  to  the  foreign 
devils.  No  one  knows  the  source  of  the  word, 
but  I  know  the  origin  of  the  person.  Quan  Quock 
Ming  told  me  that  many  years  ago. 

When  Quan  Quock  Ming  showed  my  people 
in  this  country  how  to  bring  the  law  of  the  Middle 
Kingdom  to  the  land  of  the  fan  quai  and  in- 
structed them  in  the  manner  of  applying  it  to  their 
own  affairs,  all  said: 

uQuan  Quock  Ming  is  a  sage." 

When  he  interrogated  the  gods  with  :he  aid 
of  his  question  sticks,  and  wonderful  things  in 
the  distant  past  and  marvelous  events  in  the  near 
future  were  revealed,  all  said: 

"Quan  Quock  Ming  is  a  great  prophet." 

When,  through  frequent  sacrifices  to  the  gods 
and  his  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  good  and  evil 
spirits,  he  averted  great  calamities,  all  said: 

"Quan  Quock  Ming  is  a  pious  priest." 

He  was  therefore  consulted  upon  all  matters 
of  great  importance,  and  though  his  profits  from 
telling  fortunes  and  giving  advice  grew  with  his 
reputation,  he  seemed  indifferent  to  the  opportu- 
nities to  increase  the  one  and  enhance  the  other, 
but  still  devoted  himself  to  the  instruction  of  his 
young  pupils  in  the  classics.  They  always  ad- 
dressed him  as  Quan-foo-tsze — Quan,  the  Philos- 
opher— just  as  the  pupils  of  the  great  master, 
whom  the  fan  quai  ignorantly  call  Confucius,  ad- 
dressed him  as  Kung-foo-tsze. 


74  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Quan-foo-tsze,  what  is  a  highbinder?"  one  of 
them  asked  of  him. 

"When  one  of  the  far  East  marries  one  of  the 
far  West,  as  your  father  did,"  replied  Quan  Quock 
Ming  with  great  severity,  "the  offspring  is  wicked, 
as  you  are,  and  yields  neither  respect  nor  obe- 
dience to  either  parent.  When  the  laws  of  the 
far  East  and  the  laws  of  the  far  West  unite  they 
produce  the  highbinder — a  person  who  neither 
respects  nor  obeys  any  law  but  that  of  the  tong, 
which  is  a  law  unto  itself.     This  is  the  way  of  it: 

"If  one  foreign  devil  steals  from  another,  it  is 
the  law  of  the  West  that  his  hand  shall  be  cut  off? 
If  one  kicks  another,  is  his  foot  beaten?  If  one 
bites  another,  are  his  teeth  drawn?  No;  each 
man  must  control  his  own  members,  and  if  one 
of  them  does  a  wrong  the  whole  man  is  pun- 
ished. 

"The  fan  quai  religion  teaches  that  if  one's  eye 
offends  he  shall  put  it  out,  and  if  his  hand  is 
wicked  he  should  cut  it  off;  but  I  never  heard  that 
anyone  did  that.  If  it  is  good  religion,  it  is  good 
law,  and  in  the  Middle  Kingdom  it  is  both  religion 
and  the  law,  but  of  the  family  instead  of  the  in- 
dividual, for  there  the  family  is  the  unit.  The 
Heavenly  Dynasty  says  to  the  family: 

"  'Regulate  yourself  and  keep  your  members 
in  order,  or  the  whole  family  shall  be  punished.' 

"So  when  one  commits  a  crime  the  family 
shouts : 


THE  MORTGAGED  SLAVE  GIRL        75 

"  'He  is  wicked;  kill  him!'  and  the  member  is 
cut  off. 

"In  the  West  the  family  cries: 

"'He  is  insane;  saVe  him!'  and  neither  the 
member  nor  the  family  is  punished. 

"So  it  happens  that  the  foreign  devil,  thinking 
much  of  himself  and  little  of  his  family,  writes  his 
personal  name  first  (and  that  is  peculiar)  ;  while 
a  Chinese,  thinking  little  of  himself  and  much  of 
his  family,  writes  his  family  name  first  (and  that 
is  as  it  should  be). 

"But  many  mistakes  and  much  confusion  result 
when  the  people  of  the  far  East  and  of  the  far 
West,  with  their  different  laws  and  customs,  come 
together.  Once  a  foreign  devil  of' the  name  of 
John  killed  a  man  of  the  family  of  Wong  in  Can- 
ton, and  the  fighting  men  of  the  Wongs,  follow- 
ing the  law  of  the  family,  hunted  out  another  for- 
eign devil  named  John  and  killed  him.  Expect- 
ing the  family  of  John  to  retaliate,  all  of  the 
family  of  Wong — and  they  were  thousands — hid 
from  the  Johns  for  a  long  time. 

"And  Jue  Toy,  who  was  arrested  in  this  coun- 
try for  theft,  said  to  me  when  he  came  out  of 
prison: 

"  'I  told  the  foreign  devils  my  name  was  Ah 
Toy,  so  they  could  not  find  and  punish  the  elders 
of  the  family  of  Jue.  All  they  could  do  was  to 
send  me  to  jail.  Wasn't  that  a  great  joke  on 
them!' 

"The  foreign  devils  who  went  to  the  Middle 


76  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

Kingdom  found  the  laws  not  to  their  liking,  so 
they  carried  their  own  with  them  and  established 
courts-  to  administer  them.  When  our  people 
came  to  this  country  and  found  the  laws  distaste- 
ful, they  brought  their  own  and  formed  family 
societies  to  enforce  them. 

"Now  if  a  foreign  devil  has  a  crushed  finger 
to  be  amputated  or  an  aching  tooth  to  be  drawn 
he  does  not  do  it  himself,  but  employs  a  surgeon 
or  a  dentist  to  do  it  neatly.  So,  if  a  family  among 
our  people  has  some  bad  member  to  be  beaten  or 
killed,  the  elders  do  not  soil  their  hands  with  the 
cudgel  or  the  cleaver,  but  hire  a  fighting  man  to 
do  it  nicely;  and  if  one  family  quarrels  with 
another,  each  pays  its  fighting  men  to  give  blow 
for  blow  until  one  is  whipped  or  a  compromise  is 
arranged. 

"But  whether  a  hatchetman  in  this  country  pun- 
ished a  member  of  his  own  family,  or  fought  with 
the  hatchetmen  of  another,  the  fan  quai  officials 
meddled  in  the  matter  and  made  the  occupation  of 
a  fighting  man  more  hazardous.  Consequently 
such  employment  became  honorable,  profitable, 
and  much  sought  after  by  the  adventurous. 

"In  the  beginning  the  family  societies,  with 
their  hatchetmen,  were  powerful,  and  the  law 
of  the  Middle  Kingdom  was  well  administered, 
but  in  time  the  fighting  men  became  more  numer- 
ous and  formed  a  long  of  their  own.  They  black- 
mailed, killed  and  robbed,  and  no  one  dared  to 
complain  to  the  fan  quai  officials.     Then  other 


THE  MORTGAGED  SLAVE  GIRL        w 

hatchetmen  formed  other  tongs,  and  the  family 
societies  had  little  to  do  but  worship  ancestors  at 
the  temple,  care  for  the  sick  and  aged  and  attend 
to  such  trifling  matters  as  did  not  concern  fighting 
men.  And  then  scholars,  farmers,  laborers,  mer- 
chants and  gamblers  had  to  join  one  or  another 
of  the  fighting  tongs  to  get  the  protection  that 
their  family  societies  could  no  longer  give. 

"There  is  always  one  law  for  the  strong  and 
another  for  the  weak;  and  that  is  because  the 
strong  are  able  to  say  'This  is  the  law,'  and  the 
weak  can  only  answer,  Tes,  that  is  the  law.'  The 
long  is  stronger  than  the  family,  so  there  is  no 
law  for  our  people  in  this  country  but  the  law  of 
the  tong." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  spoke  truly. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  WAR  OF  THE  TONGS 

Of  all  Wong  Hung's  slave  girls  Suey  Sum 
seemed  the  happiest,  so  her  owner  gave  her  that 
name — Contented  Heart.  She  was  also  the  sau- 
ciest, therefore  she  was  beaten  often  by  the  old 
woman  who  guarded  her.  She  was  the  prettiest, 
consequently  all  men  admired  her  greatly. 

When  Wong  Hung  was  about  to  depart  for  his 
old  home  in  the  Middle  Kingdom,  there  to  strut 
before  the  villagers  in  fine  attire  and  boast  of 
his  wealth,  he  said  to  Suey  Sum: 

"You  have  served  me  for  the  full  four  years 
of  our  contract,  and  it  is  my  duty  to  fix  a  price 
at  which  you  may  buy  yourself.  You  cost  me 
$2,000,  but  I  will  make  the  price  $1,800.  From 
now  on  you  may  take  all  you  earn,  paying  me  for 
your  board  and  lodging  and  three  per  cent  a  month 
interest  upon  the  amount  you  owe  for  yourself 
until  all  is  paid.  You  are  a  clever  girl,  and  in  a 
year  you  should  be  free." 

From  that  moment  Suey  Sum  thought  of  little 
but  buying  her  freedom,  and  the  men  who  gave 
her  the  most  money  or  the  finest  jewelry  were  al- 
ways most  favored  by  her. 

When  Lee  Fook,  a  hatchetman  of  the  Bing 
78 


THE  WAR  OF  THE  TONGS         79 

Kung  tong,  won  at  fan  tan,  his  first  thought  was 
of  Suey  Sum,  and  he  hurried  to  her,  fingering  the 
gold  in  his  pockets  and  saying  to  himself: 

"I  will  give  her  $200,  and  she  will  think  I  am 
•a  very  fine  fellow." 

But  when  Suey  Sum,  hearing  the  jingle  of  the 
coin,  smiled  upon  him,  he  said: 

"Accept  this  $200  as  a  present  and  buy  brace- 
lets, for  they  can  always  be  sold  at  a  good  price, 
and  there  is  not  so  much  danger  that  they  will  be 
stolen." 

"If  I  had  many  friends  as  kind  as  you,"  said 
Suey  Sum,  "I  could  soon  buy  myself,"  and  while 
they  ate  preserved  fruits,  drank  tea  and  smoked 
cigarettes  together  she  told  him  what  her  owner* 
had  said. 

"Why  do  you  not  run  away  from  Wong  Hung 
and  go  to  the  fan  quai  mission?"  asked  Lee  Fook. 
"When  he  returns  and  finds  that  he  cannot  get 
you  back  he  will  sell  you  to  me  at  a  very  small 
price.  Then  you  can  leave  the  mission  and  go 
with  me." 

"That  would  mean  only  a  change  of  owners 
without  hastening  my  freedom,"  replied  Suey 
Sum.  "Besides,  Wong  Hung  would  make  much 
trouble.  Still,  if  he  does  not  return,  I  may  go 
rather  than  be  sold  to  another." 

Lee  Fook  did  not  forget  that,  and  when  he 
heard  that  Wong  Hung  was  returning  he  hurried 
to  the  fan  quai  officials,  who  say  what  foreigners 
may  come  to  this  country,  and  whispered: 


to  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Wong  Hung  is  not  a  merchant  as  he  pretends, 
but  is  really  a  keeper  of  slaves." 

When  Wong  Hung  found  he  would  not  be 
kept  a  prisoner  until  the  matter  could  be  decided, 
he  sent  this  message  to  Suey  Sum: 

"Mortgage  yourself  for  $300,  that  I  may  buy 
a  lawyer.  Otherwise  I  may  be  sent  back  to  the 
Middle  Kingdom,"  and  she  borrowed  the  money 
from  Chin  Doon,  a  member  of  the  Hop  Sing 
tong. 

When  the  fan  quai  officials  decided  that  Wong 
Hung  was  not  a  merchant  (though  he  really 
owned  a  twentieth  share  in  a  cigar  stand),  and 
ordered  that  he  be  sent  back  to  the  Middle  King- 
dom, he  sold  Suey  Sum  to  Loo  Yee  for  $1,000. 
Chin  Doon,  the  moneylender,  was  very  angry  that 
Loo  Yee  should  have  gotten  such  a  fine  bargain 
when  he  himself  had  counted  on  it,  and  he  talked 
so  loudly  about  his  $300  mortgage  on  Suey  Sum 
that  Jue  Yoke,  the  interpreter,  said  he  would 
lend  her  the  money  to  pay  the  debt.  But  Suey 
Sum  paid  only  $200,  keeping  back  $100  to  buy 
hair  ornaments.  Chin  Doon  demanded  the  re- 
mainder from  Jue  Yoke,  and  when  the  interpreter 
refused  to  pay  it  made  complaint  before  a  magis- 
trate at  San  Jose,  saying  Jue  Yoke  had  killed  a 
man  many  years  before. 

When  Jue  Yok*  was  taken  to  prison  the  elders 
of  the  family  of  Jue  sent  a  peace-talker  to  ask  of 
Chin  Doon: 


THE  WAR  OF  THE  TONGS         81 

"Why  have  you  done  this  when  you  know  very 
well  that  Jue  Yoke  did  not  kill  the  man?" 

"Because  he  owes  me  $100  that  he  guaranteed 
for  a  slave  girl,"  replied  Chin  Doon,  "and  if  the 
family  does  not  pay  it  for  him  I  shall  have  him 
hanged  by  the  fan  quai  law." 

When  the  family  of  Jue  refused  to  pay,  Chin 
Doon  sent  members  of  his  tong  to  the  magistrate 
to  say: 

"Yes,  it  is  true  that  we  saw  Jue  Yoke  kill  the 
man." 

All  that  trouble  cost  Chin  Doon  $250,  but  it 
cost  Jue  Yoke  $260  to  prove  that  he  was  in  the 
Middle  Kingdom  at  the  time  of  the  killing  and 
could  not  have  done  it.  And  then  it  cost  Chin 
Doon  $150  more  to  prove  that  he  had  made  an 
honest  mistake  about  it  and  was  not  such  a  liar 
as  should  be  sent  to  prison. 

As  soon  as  the  jail  doors  opened  for  Jue  Yoke 
he  ran  to  his  tong  to  complain  of  the  wrong  Chin 
Doon  had  done  him,  and  it  made  complaint  to 
the  See  Yup  society,  which  is  a  high  court  com- 
posed of  the  presidents  of  twelve  important  tongs 
and  which  decides  all  questions  of  tong  law.  After 
hearing  all  that  was  to  be  said  on  both  sides  of 
the  question  the  See  Yups  said: 

uThe  slave  girl,  Suey  Sum,  was  the  cause  of 
all  the  trouble.  She  should  pay  Jue  Yoke  the 
$300  she  borrowed  as  well  as  the  expense  of  $260 
he  incurred;  and  she  should  pay  Chin  Doon  the 


82  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

$100  she  still  owes  him  as  well  as  the  $400  ex- 
pense he  has  been  put  to  in  the  matter." 

Lee  Fook,  the  Bing  Kung  hatchetman,  had 
urged  Suey  Sum  many  times  to  run  away  with 
him,  and  he  became  so  angry  at  her  refusals  that 
he  demanded  of  her  the  return  of  the  $200  he 
had  given  her  to  buy  bracelets.  At  the  same  time 
the  moneylender  was  clamoring  for  his  $500,  the 
interpreter  for  his  $560,  and  her  owner  for  the 
interest  on  what  she  owed  for  her  freedom;  and 
peace-talkers  could  do  nothing  at  all,  for  every 
time  they  opened  their  mouths  to  speak  of  the 
matter  all  the  creditors  of  Suey  Sum  would  shout 
at  once.  While  they  were  still  quarreling  Lee 
Fook  went  to  Sacramento  and  made  complaint  to 
a  magistrate  saying  that  Suey  Sum  had  stolen  a 
bracelet  from  him,  and  had  an  official  put  her  in 
prison  at  night,  expecting  to  get  her  out  by  giving 
$50  security,  to  take  her  quickly  to  Portland  or 
Seattle  and  either  keep  her  for  himself  or  sell  her 
at  a  profit.  But  her  owner  was  quick  in  buying 
a  lawyer,  who  got  the  magistrate  to  make  the  se- 
curity $1,000,  and  that  was  more  than  Lee  Fook 
could  pay.  Then  the  owner,  the  money-lender 
and  the  interpreter  hurried  to  Sacramento  to  get 
the  girl  and  make  trouble  for  Lee  Fook;  but  the 
Bing  Kung  tong  was  very  strong  there,  so  they 
thought  it  better  to  have  peace-talkers  arrange  a 
compromise.  While  Suey  Sum  was  still  crying  in 
prison  they  all  met,  shouted  about  everything  that 
had  been  done,  and  then  signed  a  paper  saying: 


THE  WAR  OF  THE  TONGS         83 

"Lee  Fook  shall  tell  the  magistrate  that  it  was 
all  a  mistake  about  the  theft,  and  when  the  girl 
is  released  she  shall  return  to  her  owner  and  pay 
first  to  Lee  Fook  the  $200  he  gave  her;  then  to 
Chin  Doon,  the  moneylender,  the  $500  she  owes 
him;  then  to  Jue  Yoke,  the  interpreter,  the  $560 
due  him;  and  then  to  Loo  Yee,  her  owner,  the 
$240  expense  he  has  been  put  to  in  this  matter  in 
addition  to  the  principal  and  interest  due  him 
for  her  freedom." 

The  men  were  all  satisfied,  for  that  was  good 
Chinese  law,  and  Suey  Sum  was  content,  for  there 
were  rats  in  the  prison.  But  Chin  Doon,  the 
moneylender,  was  a  very  wicked  man,  and  when 
he  had  lost  a  great  deal  at  fan  tan  he  went  at 
night  and  took  all  Suey  Sum's  bracelets,  holding 
them  as  security  for  the  money  due  him,  though 
it  had  been  agreed  that  Lee  Fook  should  be  paid 
first.  Lee  Fook  would  not  eat  a  dumb  man's 
loss,  so  he,  without  consulting  his  tong,  chopped 
Chin  Doon  with  a  cleaver  until  he  was  quite  dead. 

In  the  time  it  takes  to  cook  and  smoke  an 
opium  pill  everyone  in  Chinatown  was  saying: 

"A  Bing  Xung  has  killed  a  Hop  Sing,  and 
war  may  begin  at  once." 

The  shopkeepers  shook  their  heads  and  mut- 
tered : 

"Hai-e-e!  This  is  a  bad  business,"  and  all  who 
belonged  to  either  tong  quickly  put  up  their 
shutters,  locked  their  doors  and  hurried  to  tong 


84  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

headquarters  to  learn  what  was  to  be  done  about 
it. 

At  the  meetings  of  the  tongs  the  laborers  and 
business  men  were  of  one  voice  in  saying: 

"If  there  is  war  we  must  hide  and  neglect  our 
affairs  until  it  is  over,  or  we  shall  be  killed;  and 
if  we  save  our  lives  we  still  lose  much  money,  as 
we  must  pay  for  rewards  upon  the  heads  of  our 
enemies  and  for  the  defense  of  hatchetmen  that 
may  be  arrested  by  the  meddlesome  fan  quai.  So 
let  us  make  peace  and  save  our  money." 

But  the  hatchetmen,  who  saw  profitable  em- 
ployment in  earning  rewards,  and  the  interpreters 
who  saw  big  commissions  in  employing  lawyers, 
shouted: 

"Let  us  make  war  and  save  our  faces." 

The  business  men  of  the  Hop  Sing  long  got 
peace-talkers  from  the  Tin  Yee  tong  to  go  to  the 
Bing-Kungs  and  ask  politely: 

"Why  has  one  of  your  hatchetmen  killed  a 
Hop  Sing  man?"  and  the  Bing  Kungs  sent  peace- 
talkers  from  the  Suey  Sing  tong  to  answer  cour- 
teously : 

"It  was  because  a  Hop  Sing  man  robbed  a  girl 
who  owed  a  Bing  Kung  man,  and  the  Hop  Sing 
tong  should  see  that  the  stolen  bracelets  are  re- 
turned." 

"That  is  not  a  very  good  reason  for  killing  a 
man,"  replied  the  Hop  Sings,  and  they  asked  the 
Bing  Kungs  to  pay  $1,000  for  the  relatives  of  the 
dead  man,  anrl  also  to  furnish  the  firecrackers  and 


THE  WAR  OF  THE  TONGS         85 

roasted  pork  for  a  feast  to  show  that  they  were 
in  the  wrong  and  were  sorry. 

"It  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  we  could 
do  such  a  thing,"  replied  the  Bing  Kungs. 

"Then  we  must  kill  a  Bing  Kung  man,"  de- 
clared the  Hop  Sings,  firmly  but  courteously.  "It 
is  only  right  that  we  should." 

The  peace-talkers  went  from  one  tong  to  the 
other,  suggesting  compromises,  holding  confer- 
ences and  consuming  a  great  deal  of  tea,  noodles 
and  opium  at  the  expense  of  the  tongs,  and  in  time 
the  Bing  Kungs  agreed  to  say  nothing  more  about 
the  bracelets,  and  the  Hop  Sings  promised  to 
withdraw  the  demand  for  money  for  Chin  Doon's 
relatives;  but  neither  tong  wanted  to  lose  its  face, 
so  neither  would  agree  to  provide  the  feast  and 
firecrackers.  Merchants  on  both  sides  were  quite 
willing  to  pay  for  the  feast  in  order  to  have  peace, 
but  each  tong  insisted  that  the  other  should  give  it. 

"Let  each  tong  give  a  banquet  in  turn,"  said 
the  peace-talkers,  but  neither  would  provide  the 
first. 

"Then  let  the  two  tongs  combine  and  give  one 
feast  for  all,  contributing  an  equal  amount  to  the 
expense,"  they  suggested,  but  it  was  perfectly 
clear  that  there  could  not  be  two  seats  of  honor, 
and  neither  president  would  sit  in  the  lower  seat. 

"Then  let  there  be  peace  without  a  feast,"  ad- 
vised some  foolish  person,  but  that  was  impos- 
sible, for  there  must  be  a  feast  when  anything  im- 
portant is  done,  in  order  to  make  it  binding,  and 


86  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

this  was  very  important.  The  hatchetmen  were 
continually  yelling:  "Fight!"  and  the  business  men 
were  always  saying:  "Wait!'*  but  when  it  became 
certain  that  the  peace-talkers  could  make  no  com- 
promise the  business  men  ran  for  their  hiding- 
places  and  the  hatchetmen  ran  for  their  guns. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  HIGHBINDER  WOMAN 

Some  of  the  fighting  men  attired  themselves  in 
the  clothing  of  the  fan  quai  and  wore  wigs  over 
their  queues,  so  they  could  approach  their  enemies 
without  being  recognized.  Other  stained  their 
faces  and  dressed  like  farmers;  others  disguised 
themselves  in  the  rags  of  beggars,  and  still  others 
carried  baskets  of  fruit  or  vegetables  that  they  of- 
fered for  sale.  But  somewhere  in  their  rags  or 
their  baskets  big  guns  were  concealed,  and  they 
were  looking  more  for  someone  to  shoot  than  for 
someone  to  buy  or  give  alms.  Many  of  the  boldest 
went  out  openly,  undisguised  and  unarmed,  for 
they  knew  the  fan  quai  officials  would  search  them ; 
but  each  was  followed  by  a  very  young  boy  or  a 
very  old  man  who  carried  a  gun  ready  to  pass 
to  the  fighting  man  when  he  should  require  it. 
Others  took  their  stand  in  the  doorways  of  cigar- 
stands  owned  by  members  of  their  tong,  and 
watched  for  the  coming  of  an  enemy,,  while 
their  weapons  were  within  easy  reach  behind  the 
counters. 

Only  those  of  the  quarters  who  did  not  know 
that  war  had  begun,  or  those  who  were  compelled 
by  the  urgency  cf  business,  went  on  the  streets, 

87 


38  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

tor  often  men  are  killed  by  mistake,  or  by  a  bullet 
intended  for  another;  and  they  tarried  not  a  mo- 
ment longer  than  was  necessary.  They  saw  fight- 
ing men  loitering  in  the  shadows  or  lounging  in 
the  doorways,  looking  sharply  this  way  and  that 
to  avoid  a  shot  in  the  back,  or  to  put  one  in  the 
back  of  another  when  no  official  was  near.  And 
whenever  one  heard  the  half-whispered  warning 
of  some  watchful  fighting  man,  "Pass  quickly,"  he 
scurried  from  one  doorway  to  another  in  deadly 
fear. 

Written  and  spoken  messages  were  sent  by 
electricity  to  all  places  where  there  were  Hop 
Sings  or  Bing  Kungs,  telling  of  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war,  and  all  who  received  them  hur- 
ried to  hide  or  to  kill  before  their  enemies  could 
kill  or  hide. 

When  Lee  Fook  killed  Chin  Doon  he  fled  to 
Oakland  so  that  the  fan  quai  officials  could  not  find 
him,  and  was  hidden  away  by  members  of  his 
tong.  He  passed  the  time  in  smoking  opium,  tell- 
ing how  Chin  Doon  had  squealed  and  boasting 
that  he  would  kill  the  first  Hop  Sing  if  war  should 
commence. 

Lee  Sam  Yick,  the  president  of  the  Hop  Sings, 
was  taking  his  evening  meal  at  his  home  in  Oak- 
land, and  no  message  of  warning  had  yet  reached 
him,  when  Lee  Fook,  who  was  of  the  same  family, 
entered. 

"Will  you  share  my  mean  fare,  younger  cou- 
sin?"   asked  Lee  Sam  Yick  politely,   though  he 


THE  HIGHBINDER  WOMAN         89 

knew  Lee  Fook  was  the  Bing  Kung  fighting  man 
who  had  caused  so  much  trouble. 

uNo,  venerable  uncle,"  replied  Lee  Fook.  "I 
have  something  for  you,"  and  he  shot  Lee  Sam 
Yick  dead. 

That  was  not  good  law — it  is  not  the  law  of 
the  Middle  Kingdom — that  one  should  kill  a 
member  of  his  own  family.  That  was  the  law 
of  the  tong. 

That  same  night  a  Bing  Kung  man  was  killed 
in  Oakland  and  another  in  San  Francisco;  a  Hop 
Sing  man  was  killed  in  Sacramento  and  another 
in  Los  Angeles;  and  the  next  day  a  Bing  Kung 
man  was  killed  in  Portland.  Thus  they  had  killed 
the  same  number — which  is  the  law — but  the 
Bing  Kungs  had  killed  a  president,  while  the  Hop 
Sings  had  not,  and  they  must  do  so  or  lose  their 
faces  and  be  laughed  at. 

It  is  not  alone  with  knives,  cleavers  and  revol- 
vers that  hatchetmen  fight.  They  have  learned 
to  use  another  weapon  that  puts  an  enemy  out  of 
the  way  for  a  time  and  sometimes  kills.  It  is  the 
fan  quai  law — the  same  that  Chin  Doon  used 
against  Jue  Yoke.  For  every  Hop  Sing  man  that 
was  killed  three  or  four  Bing  Kungs  were  pointed 
out  as  the  murderers  and  taken  to  jail;  and  for 
every  Bing  Kung  man  that  died  three  or  four 
Hop  Sings  were  imprisoned;  but  of  all  these, 
scarcely  one  had  anything  to  do  with  the  actual 
killing  of  which  he  was  accused.  Nevertheless, 
tong  members  must  serve  the  tong,  and  merchants 


90  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

who  cannot  fight  can  give  testimony,  saying  they 
saw  the  killing  and  that  the  prisoner  did  it. 

And  wherever  there  had  been  a  killing  or  a 
robbery  a  long  time  before,  and  for  which  no  one 
had  been  punished  by  the  fan  quai  law,  Bing  Kung 
or  Hop  Sing  interpreters  hurried  to  buy  papers  of 
the  magistrates  accusing  many  John  Does  of  doing 
these  things;  and  officials  carried  these  papers  with 
them,  so  that  whenever  a  Bing  Kung  man  was 
pointed  out  by  a  Hop  Sing,  or  a  Hop  Sing  was 
pointed  out  by  a  Bing  Kung,  he  was  said  to  be 
the  same  John  Doe  named  in  the  paper  and  was 
taken  to  prison.  Thus  a  great  many  men  were  in 
jail,  a  great  many  lawyers  were  employed,  and  the 
interpreters,  to  say  nothing  of  the  magistrates 
who  sold  the  papers  and  the  officials  who  carried 
them,  were  earning  much  money. 

But  neither  the  hatchetmen  with  their  guns  nor 
the  officials  with  the  John  Doe  papers  could  find 
Wong  Hing  Chung,  the  president  of  the  Bing 
Kungs,  and  the  Hop  Sings  were  so  angry  that 
had  he  been  on  his  way  to  prison  with  the  hand 
of  an  official  upon  his  arm,  or  had  he  been  stand- 
ing before  a  magistrate  with  his  lawyers  by  his 
side,  he  would  have  been  killed  at  once,  even 
though  it  meant  the  hanging  of  the  man  who 
should  do  it. 

Wong  Hing  Chung  knew  that  the  man  who 
would  kill  him  would  receive  $2,000  for  himself 
if  he  escaped,  and  the  same  amount  for  his  near 
relatives  if  he  were  hanged  or  sent  to  prison  for 


THE  HIGHBINDER  WOMAN        91 

the  remainder  of  his  life;  and  that  is  a  great  deal 
of  money.  In  the  Middle  Kingdom  twenty  men 
would  die  willingly  if  assured  that  their  families 
would  each  receive  $100,  for  that  is  a  great  for- 
tune there.  And  Wong  Hing  Chung  knew  that 
anyone  who  would  give  the  Hop  Sings  informa- 
tion of  his  hiding-place  would  receive  $250,  so 
remained  securely  hidden  away,  even  from  the 
members  of  his  own  tong. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  sat  very  straight  on  the 
edge  of  his  stool,  his  elbows  resting  on  a  table 
and  his  hands  Holding  "The  Book  of  Changes,"  a 
very  mysterious  work  that  only  great  scholars  un- 
derstand. His  pupils  sat  in  a  semicircle  on  the 
floor,  the  twenty  of  us  shouting  over  and  over 
again  twenty  different  sentences  from  "The  Great 
Learning,"  while  he,  paying  no  attention  what- 
ever, though  we  were  growing  hoarse,  studied  the 
pages  of  his  book  through  the  big  horn-rimmed 
spectacles  that  rested  on  the  end  of  his  nose.  Sud- 
denly he  closed  the  book,  laid  it  on  the  table  and 
surprised  us  by  saying: 

"That  is  sufficient  for  today" — we  had  been 
at  our  lessons  only  a  little  more  than  eight  hours 
— "and  none  of  you  need  return  to  your  studies 
tonight,  excepting  Fung  Ching." 

That  surprised  me  still  more,  for  I  was  a  dili- 
gent and  favored  pupil,  and  was  as  deserving  of 
an  evening's  holiday  as  the  others,  especially  as 
it  was  the  first  he  had  ever  given  us.  Still  I 
thought  he  must  have  some  purpose  that  I  did 


92  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

not  understand,  for  he  had  been  my  very  best 
friend  from  the  time  I  first  saw  him  in  the  sampan 
that  carried  us  out  to  the  ship  in  Hongkong 
harbor. 

When  I  returned  in  the  evening  I  was  admitted 
by  Fong  Fah,  his  wife,  and  as  I  started  toward 
the  lesson-room  she  stopped  me,  saying: 

"Not  that  way.  Go  in  there,"  and  she  pointed 
toward  the  inner  compartment  where  Quan  Quock 
Ming  did  his  reading  and  writing,  told  fortunes 
and  gave  advice. 

The  room  was  quite  dark,  except  for  a  dim 
light  that  came  through  a  partly  opened  door  at 
the  back  of  the  apartment,  which  evidently  opened 
into  another  room  that  I  had  never  seen.  I  hesi- 
tated a  moment  and  then  approached  the  door, 
not  stealthily  but  noiselessly,  for  my  Chinese  shoes 
made  no  thumping  sound,  and  when  I  looked  in 
I  saw  Quan  Quock  Ming  and  Wong  Hing  Chung, 
the  president  of  the  Bing  Kungs,  smoking  opium 
together  on  a  bunk,  and  I  heard  Quan  Quock 
Ming  saying: 

"It  is  well  that  you  came  to  me,  for  you  have 
always  been  my  very  good  friend.  None  will 
ever  think  of  looking  for  you  in  the  home  of  the 
poor  scholar  who  knows  nothing  of  passing  events, 
excepting  such  as  are  revealed  to  him  when  he 
tells  a  fortune." 

"That  is  true,  venerable  and  learned  Quan," 
said  Wong  Hing  Chung.  "If  you  were  not  my 
very  good  friend  you  would  have  told  the  Hop 


THE  HIGHBINDER  WOMAN        93 

Sing  men  long  ago  that  I  was  hiding  here,  you 
would  have  earned  the  reward,  and  I  would  now 
be  before  the  King  of  Death.  It  is  hard  to  put 
trust  in  any  person  when  such  rewards  are  offered. 
You  and  my  wife  are  the  only  persons  upon  whom 
I  could  stake  my  life.  I  know  there  are  men  in 
my  own  tong  wicked  and  treacherous  enough  to 
earn  the  reward  upon  my  head,  if  they  thought  it 
could  be  done  with  safety  to  themselves." 

"I  will  send  your  message  to  your  wife  tonight 
by  a  pupil  of  mine,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming,  "and 
you  can  see  her  here." 

I  was  greatly  frightened,  not  knowing  what 
would  be  done  to  me  if  they  should  find  that  I 
had  overheard  them,  so  I  slipped  away  to  the 
other  side  of  the  room,  and  then  advanced  noisily 
as  though  I  had  just  entered.  Quan  Quock  Ming 
met  me  at  the  door,  and  closing  it  behind  him 
took  me  by  the  arm  and  led  me  back  to  the  outer 
apartment. 

"Take  this  letter  to  the  opium  room  beneath 
the  theater  and  give  it  to  the  woman  you  will  find 
there,"  said  he.  "If  you  make  a  mistake  I  shall 
beat  you  when  you  come  for  your  lessons;  if  you 
do  as  you  are  told  I  shall  reward  you  well." 

As  I  hurried  away  I  heard  Quan  Quock  Ming 
tell  Fong  Fah  that  a  woman  would  soon  come  and 
to  admit  her  at  once.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  find- 
ing the  room  at  the  theater,  but  the  door  was 
locked,  and  I  had  to  knock  loudly  several  times 
before  a  man's  voice  asked: 


94  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Who  is  there  ?" 

UA  boy  with  a  letter,"  I  answered. 

The  door  was  opened  a  very  little  and  some 
person  peered  out,  and  then  wider  when  the  oc- 
cupant of  the  room  saw  I  was  alone.  I  entered 
and  found  only  a  man  in  woman's  attire.  He  ex- 
tended his  hand  for  the  letter,  but  I  put  it  behind 
me  saying: 

"This  is  for  a  woman." 

"I  am  a  woman — in  the  play,"  he  replied. 

"It  is  for  the  wife  of — of  a  man." 

"I  know.  I  will  give  it  to  her,"  and  holding 
me  by  the  arm  he  took  the  letter  from  me  rudely. 

I  went  away  slowly  and  reluctantly,  fearing 
I  had  done  wrong  in  not  following  exactly  the  in- 
structions that  had  been  given  me;  and  the  more 
I  thought  of  the  matter  the  more  fearful  I  became 
that  I  would  surely  get  the  beating  that  Quan 
Quock  Ming  had  promised  me.  So,  upon  reflec- 
ion  and  after  much  hesitation,  I  decided  to  hurry 
back  to  him  and  explain  the  mistake,  if  one  had 
been  made,  in  order  that  it  might  be  rectified,  if 
it  were  not  already  too  late. 

As  I  ascended  the  stairs  leading  to  Quan 
Quock  Ming's  apartments  I  saw  the  person  to 
whom  I  had  delivered  the  letter  seeking  admit- 
tance, and  I  hurried  the  faster.  The  door  was 
opened  by  Fong  Fah,  and  as  the  stranger  entered 
and  strode  directly  toward  the  inner  room  without 
speaking  she  appeared  greatly  agitated,  stared 
after  him  and  held  her  baby  closer  in  her  arms.    I 


THE  HIGHBINDER  WOMAN        95 

followed  as  quickly  as  possible  to  warn  Quan 
Quock  Ming,  but  when  I  reached  the  door  the 
stranger  had  already  entered.  I  was  about  to  cry 
out  when  I  saw  my  instructor,  without  a  nod  of 
recognition  or  a  word  of  greeting,  point  toward 
the  inner  apartment  where  Wong  Hing  Chung 
was  hiding.  The  man  in  woman's  garb  walked 
quickly  across  the  room,  paused  just  long  enough 
to  take  a  big  revolver  from  his  sleeve,  threw  open 
the  door  and  stepped  inside. 

There  was  a  scream  and  then  three  quick  shots. 
I  stood  paralyzed  with  fear  while  the  stranger 
opened  the  door  to  the  public  hallway,  threw  the 
revolver  out,  left  the  door  open,  bolted  the  one 
leading  into  Quan  Quock  Ming's  apartments,  ran 
back  to  the  living-room,  seated  himself  beside 
Fong  Fah  and  took  her  crying  baby  from  her 
arms. 

"Your  stupidity  was  the  cause  of  this,"  said 
Quan  Quock  Ming,  and  he  glared  at  me  so  fiercely 
that  I  thought  he  would  not  wait  until  the  morrow 
to  give  me  a  beating.  "You  gave  the  letter  to 
the  wrong  person,  but  if  you  say  nothing  of  this 
matter  to  anyone  you  will  not  be  punished.  If 
you  open  your  mouth  to  speak  of  it  you  will  surely 
be  killed.  As  he  is  dead  I  may  as  well  claim 
the  reward,  so  that  I  may  make  sacrifices  at  the 
Tien  How  Temple,  asking  the  gods  not  to  punish 
you  too  severely  for  your  error." 

When  the  fan  qitai  officials  came,  talking  loudly 
and   breathing    hard,    they    found    Wong    Hing 


96  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

Chung  dead;  they  found  the  revolver  that  had 
killed  him;  they  heard  me  repeating  sentences 
from  "The  Sreat  Learning,"  they  saw  Quan 
Quock  Ming  studying  "The  Book  of  Changes"; 
they  saw  two  frightened  women,  one  of  them 
holding  a  crying  baby  and  saying: 

"Sh-h-h-h!" 

But  they  did  not  find  the  person  who  killed 
Wong  Hing  Chung,  the  president  of  the  Bing 
Kungs.    He  was  a  highbinder. 


BOOK  II 

WAYS  THAT  ARE  DARK 
CHAPTER  I 

GAMBLING  FOR   HER   FREEDOM 

When  I  called  for  my  night  lessons  in  the  clas- 
sics Quan  Quock  Ming  was  smacking  his  lips  glut- 
tonously over  the  last  morsel  of  his  evening  meal. 
Fong  Fah  was  standing  at  his  elbow  watching 
him  furtively  in  order  that  his  wants  might  be 
anticipated,  and  tossing  her  child  incessantly  on 
one  arm  so  that  no  cry  should  disturb  her  honor- 
able husband's  serenity. 

He  merely  glanced  up  and  grunted,  but  she 
gave  me  a  weary,  wistful  smile  of  welcome. 

"Tea!"  growled  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

Fong  Fah  hastily  poured  another  cup  for  him, 
and  he  sipped  it  noisily.  Then,  moving  swiftly 
but  softly,  she  placed  before  him  the  basin  of  hot 
water  and  cloth.  When  he  had  laved  and  dried 
his  greasy  fingers  he  rose  from  the  table,  smack- 
ing his  lips  and  grunting  with  satisfaction  as  he 
retired  to  the  inner  apartment  to  smoke  and  rest. 

As  Fong  Fah  cleared  away  the  empty  dishes, 
for  he  had  not  left  so  much  as  a  scrap  for  her,  I 

97 


98  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

saw  she  was  crying,  but  without  sound  or  expres- 
sion. 

I  had  often  seen  the  waters  of  sorrow  spring  to 
her  eyes  and  fall  upon  the  baby  as  it  slept  in  her 
arms,  or  upon  the  sewing  as  it  lay  in  her  lap; 
but  Quan  Quock  Ming  seemed  never  to  observe 
her  grief,  for  that  was  her  own  affair,  nor  to 
notice  the  child,  for  it  was  a  girl  and  therefore  a 
reproach,  nor  to  watch  the  sewing  so  long  as  he 
received  the  usual  amount  of  money  from  the 
factory  across  the  street. 

"Why  do  you  shed  tears?  Is  it  because  you 
are  still  hungry?"  I  asked,  thinking  of  the  stunted, 
half-starved  girl  she  was  when  I  first  saw  her  on 
the  ship  at  Hongkong. 

"I  have  enough  to  eat,*'  she  replied. 

"Is  it  then  because  you  have  not  borne  your 
honorable  husband  a  son?" 

"No;  he  can  take  a  secondary  wife  who  will 
bear  him  a  son." 

"Then,  is  it  because  you  are  tired?" 

"No;  it  is  not  that.  Though  a  wife  never  rests 
or  sleeps  and  is  always  dressed,  ready  to  attend 
her  husband  or  her  children  at  any  moment  of  the 
day  or  night,  that  is  but  her  duty,  and  she  would 
be  very  wicked  and  ungrateful  to  complain.  Be- 
sides I  am  fortunate  in  having  no  husband's 
mother  to  reprove  or  to  beat  me." 

"Then  why  are  you  so  often  crying?" 

"From  hunger  of  the  heart — a  hunger  for  news 
of  my  mother  and  of  my  younger  brothers  and 


GAMBLING  FOR  HER  FREEDOM      99 

sisters,  who  were  starving  when  I  was  sold  for 
half  a  mat  of  rice.  I  would  be  content  and  cry 
no  more,  even  though  the  sea  is  always  between 
us,   if  I  only  knew " 

Quan  Quock  Ming,  like  Kung-foo-tsze,  could 
have  said  of  himself,  quite  truthfully: 

"I  am  an  insatiable  student,  an  unwearied 
teacher.'* 

He  could  write  an  ode  in  the  ancient  style, 
which  is  unintelligible  without  explanation,  or  he 
could  compose  a  thesis  in  the  flowery  style,  such 
as  is  used  by  scholars  in  preparing  essays.  Often 
he  would  say  to  his  pupils: 

"If  the  Son  of  Heaven  should  destroy  all  the 
books  in  the  Middle  Kingdom,  as  Shih  Huang-ti 
did  twenty-one  centuries  ago,  I  could  rewrite  the 
Five  Classics  and  the  Four  Books  from  memory 
without  omitting  a  single  character.  But  you, 
who  are  to  be  merely  laborer*  or  merchants,  re- 
quire only  a  knowledge  of  the  business  style  for 
legal  papers  and  commercial  correspondence,  and 
of  the  colloquial  style  for  letters  to  your  personal 
friends  and  relatives." 

While  he  was  teaching  them  to  observe,  to  learn 
and  to  record  everything  concerning  their  families, 
their  friends,  their  acquaintances  and  even  their 
enemies,  he  was  growing  in  repute  as  a  sage  and 
a  prophet.  He  could  tell  the  past  or  reveal  the 
future  with  perfect  ease  and  accuracy,  and  many 
persons  called  at  his  home  daily  to  receive  advice 
upon  perplexing  matters.    To  me,  his  only  student 


ioo  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

in  the  classics,  these  interruptions  were  always 
welcome,  for  my  lessons  were  wearisome,  and 
the  discussion  of  intimate  personal  affairs,  to 
which  I  was  permitted  to  listen,  was  diverting. 
Often  he  would  say  to  a  visitor: 

"The  day  is  not  propitious.  Come  at  another 
time,"  and  then  to  me:  "I  could  have  told  that 
person  all  he  wishes  to  know  this  very  day,  but 
I  desire  that  you  should  learn  all  you  can  con- 
cerning him,  in  order  to  test  your  abilities.  We 
shall  see  how  near  you  get  to  the  truth." 

The  progress  I  made  under  his  guidance  was 
marvelous,  for  by  listening  when  he  subsequently 
told  the  visitor  of  his  past  I  found  that  I  had 
made  few  and  only  trifling  errors;  and  Quan 
Quock  Ming  would  compliment  me  upon  my  dili- 
gence and  accuracy. 

I  was  reciting  from  the  Analects  of  Kung-foo- 
tsze,  repeating  over  and  over  again  the  sentence 
to  fix  it  in  my  memory: 

"Ah,  'tis  hopeless.  I  have  not  yet  met  with 
the  man  who  loves  virtue  as  he  loves  beauty." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  was  reading  "The  Doctrine 
of  the  Golden  Medium,"  and  paying  no  attention 
whatever  to  me.  A  young  woman  came  to  the 
door  and  paused  an  instant  as  though  in  doubt 
whether  to  enter  or  to  retreat.  When  I  halted 
in  my  recitation  she  advanced  the  three  paces, 
gave  the  three  salutations  and  stood  before  Quan 
Quock  Ming  with  head  respectfully  bowed,  wait- 
ing for  him  to  speak. 


GAMBLING  FOR  HE*  '"FREEDOK*  ;  "ioi 

He  raised  his  eyes  slowly  from  his  book  until 
he  could  see  her  over  the  horn-rimmed  spectacles 
on  the  end  of  his  nose;  then  he  threw  up  his  chin 
with  a  jerk  and  stared  at  her  long  and  seriously 
through  the  glasses. 

The  girl  stood  with  downcast  eyes  while  his 
gaze  traveled  slowly  from  her  shining  black  hair, 
newly  dressed  and  held  with  ornaments  of  gold, 
jade  and  pearls,  down  to  her  white  silk  stockings 
and  embroidered  street  shoes,  then  swiftly  back  to 
her  face  that  was  like  an  almond,  first  blanched 
and  then  tinted.  Her  eyebrows  were  shaven  to 
delicate  arches  that  nearly  touched  her  long  black 
lashes  at  the  corners  of  her  eyes,  and  her  chin 
came  to  a  point  so  fine  that  it  seemed  to  pinch 
her  carmine  lips  into  a  dimpled  pout. 

"What  do  you  want?"  asked  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  but  in  a  tone  so  mild  and  gentle  that  it 
sounded  like  the  voice  of  another. 

"Advice,  sir  scholar,"  she  answered,  without 
raising  her  eyes. 

"Sit  down." 

She  found  a  stool,  removed  her  silk-padded 
coat,  laid  it  across  her  knees,  buried  her  folded 
hands  in  the  tiger-fur  lining  and  sat  quite  still.  Her 
manner  was  of  one  who  is  accustomed  to  awaiting 
commands  patiently  and  obeying  them  promptly. 

Quan  Quock  Ming's  eyes  roved  over  her  silken 
garments,  richly  embroidered,  and  rested  for  an 
instant  upon  her  gold  and  jade  bracelets  and  jew- 
eled fingers.  Then  he  took  up  his  urn  of  question 


102  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

sticks,  shook  them  until  they  were  well  mixed  and 
asked  her  to  select  one.  As  he  took  it  from  her 
he  said: 

"I  know  naught  of  you;  naught  of  your  honor- 
able ancestry;  and  naught  of  your  personal  af- 
fairs; but  this  will  reveal  all  to  me." 

He  held  it  to  the  light,  squinting  at  the  mys- 
terious characters  upon  it  and  muttering  to  him- 
self.   Then  he  turned  to  the  girl,  saying: 

"You  are  Ah  Gum,  of  the  family  of  Chin,  and 
you  are  owned  by  Loo  Yee.  He  bought  you  for 
$1,000  after  Wong  Yick,  your  first  owner,  had 
agreed  that  you  might  buy  yourself  for  $1,800. 
You  owe  so  much  money  to  other  persons  that 
you  cannot  see  how  you  can  ever  buy  your  free- 
dom.   Is  it  not  true?" 

"It  is  true,  sir  scholar." 

"You  are  called  Suey  Sum,  because  you  seem 
always  to  be  happy,  but  it  is  not  true  that  you 
have  a  contented  heart.  The  old  woman  who 
guards  you — Woo  Ho  is  her  name — beats  you 
often;  and  you  know  very  well  that  you  will  be 
killed  if  you  run  away." 

"That  is  true,  sir  scholar;  and  you  can  doubt- 
less tell  me  that  when  I  smile  all  day  for  the  men 
I  cry  all  night  for  my  mother;  that  my  father, 
who  was  very  poor,  died  when  I  had  lived  but 
fourteen  years,  ana  his  relatives  sold  me  in  order 
that  my  mother,  who  was  his  secondary  wife, 
might  live.  It  was  quite  proper  that  they  should, 
and  it  is  only  right  that  I  should  be  obedient  and 


The  old  woman  who  guards  you  beats  you  often;  and  you 
know  very  zvell  that  yon  will  be  killed  if  you  run  away."  102 


GAMBLING  FOR  HER  FREEDOM     103 

live  as  I  am  commanded  by  the  elders  of  my 
family — and  without  complaint.  I  am  used  to  it 
— the  beatings  and  all — but  I  want  my  freedom 
so  that  I  may  return  to  the  Middle  Kingdom  and 
my  mother  with  money  enough  to  support  her  in 
her  old  age." 

"In  this  country,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming, 
"there  are  few  women  and  many  men.  You  are 
young  and  beautiful.  Wait  and  work  patiently, 
and  in  time  some  prosperous  man  will  buy  you 
for  a  wife." 

"Then  my  owner  will  get  the  price  of  my  free- 
dom, and  my  mother  will  get  nothing." 

"But  you  will  get  a  good  husband." 

"I  want  no  husband.  Wives  are  only  furniture 
and  mothers — the  slaves  of  their  husbands  and 
children." 

"Every  woman  should  marry,  for  no  man  can 
die  without  a  son." 

"That  is  true,  sir  scholar,  and  if  I  could  first 
gain  my  freedom,  so  that  my  mother  would  get 
the  wedding  present,  I  could  endure  even  a  hus- 
band. It  will  take  me  two  years  at  least  to  earn 
enough  to  buy  my  freedom,  and  I  will  hang 
myself  rather  than  work  that  long.  I  have  told 
my  owner  so  many  times.  Tell  me  how  I  can  get 
enough  to  buy  myself  quickly." 

"That  is  very  difficult,  but  it  may  be  done — pro- 
vided you  have  been  obedient  to  your  master,  re- 
spectful to  the  gods  and  have  not  otherwise  vio- 
lated the  rules  of  propriety." 


io4  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"I  have  been  obedient  to  my  master  and  respect- 
ful to  the  gods,  and  I  have  observed  the  rules  of 
propriety  so  far  as  I  know  them." 

uThere  is  but  one  way  that  you  can  earn  money 
quickly — in   the  lottery." 

"I  have  been  trying  to  win  in  the  lotteries  for 
two  years,  sir  scholar,  but  fortune  is  against  me, 
and  I  have  already  lost  what  would  have  paid  for 
my  freedom  if  I  had  saved  it." 

"You  have  doubtless  bought  tickets  every  day?" 

UI  have  played  in  the  daytime  and  nighttime 
drawings  of  all  the  companies — and  even  in  the 
second  companies." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  second  companies?" 

"Surely  you  know  what  they  are,  sir  scholar?" 

"Certainly,  but  I  wish  to  know  if  you  under- 
stand them." 

"When  the  fan  quai  officials  are  meddlesome 
the  lottery  drawings  are  held  in  the  city  across  the 
bay.  The  agents  here  must  deliver  to  the  com- 
panies before  three  o'clock  their  reports  of  all 
tickets  sold.  At  that  hour  the  daytime  drawing 
is  held,  and  the  result  is  sent  by  a  messenger,  who 
cannot  get  here  before  four  o'clock.  Between 
three  and  four  the  agents  sell  tickets  on  their  own 
account,  paying  all  losses  and  keeping  all  profits. 
These  are  called  second  companies." 

"That  is  quite  right.  There  must  be  a  way 
to  win  the  favor  of  the  gods  and  the  money  of 
the  lotteries.     I  shall  have  to  make  sacrifices  at 


GAMBLING  FOR  HER  FREEDOM     10$ 

the  Tien  How  Temple  before  I  can  advise  you. 
Come  tomorrow  at  two  o'clock." 

"I  will  come,  sir  scholar." 

Suey  Sum  put  on  her  coat,  bowed  and  departed, 
and  Quan  Quock  Ming  sat  staring  at  the  door 
long  after  she  had  gone.  Then  he  sighed  deeply, 
took  off  his  spectacles,  clasped  his  hands  over  his 
stomach,  rested  his  chin  upon  his  breast,  closed 
his  eyes  and  pondered.  Suddenly  he  raised  his- 
head,  rubbed  his  hands  together,  smiled  broadly 
and  said: 

"It  will  be  very  easy." 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  UNEXPECTED  TURN  OF  FORTUNE 

Quan  Quock  Ming  looked  often  at  the  clock 
and  the  door  before  Suey  Sum  came.  He  nodded 
her  to  the  stool  opposite  him,  and  she  sat  with 
downcast  eyes  and  folded  hands  waiting  for  him 
to  speak,  while  he  studied  her  narrowly  and  waited 
for  her  to  raise  her  eyes.  When  she  glanced  up 
without  raising  her  chin  he  smiled,  and  she  twisted 
her  shoulders  nervously. 

4 'Have  you  any  advice  for  me  today,  sir 
scholar?"  she  asked. 

"Will  you  follow  it  if  I  give  it?" 

"I  will  do  whatever  you  tell  me,  sir  scholar.  I 
must  have  my  freedom  or  I  shall  die." 

"You  are  well  known  at  the  lottery  agencies, 
are  you  not?" 

"At  every  one.  My  ill  fortune  is  so  well  known 
that  they  are  eager  for  my  patronage." 

"Then  go  at  once  and  buy  one  fifty-cent  ticket 
at  each  of  the  ten  agencies  where  you  are  best 
known,  marking  always  the  same  characters.  And 
play  only  in  the  Tie  Loy  Company." 

"I  have  no  money,  sir  scholar." 

"Then  pledge  one  of  your  bracelets  with  a 
money-lender.    Be  sure  to  say  at  each  agency:  'I 

106 


THE  TURN  OF  FORTUNE         107 

have  been  compelled  to  pawn  a  bracelet  in  order 
to  play,  but  I  shall  win  enough  to  buy  my  free- 
dom or  lose  all  I  have.'  After  three  o'clock  re- 
turn to  the  same  agencies  and  buy  at  each  another 
fifty-cent  ticket  in  the  second  companies.  Come 
again  at  noon  tomorrow  and  tell  me  what  success 
you  have  had." 

There  was  disappointment  on  Suey  Sum's  face 
when  she  came,  and  she  said  at  once: 

"Sir  scholar,  I  lost." 

"I  knew  you  would,"  replied  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  smiling  and  rubbing  his  hands. 

"But  I  want  you  to  tell  me  how  to  win." 

"I  must  first  teach  you  how  to  lose." 

"I  have  done  nothing  else  for  years." 

"Either  do  as  I  tell  you  without  question,  or 
walk  your  way,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming  severely. 

"I  will  do  as  you  bid  me,  sir  scholar,  even  if  I 
must  pawn  my  clothing,  for  I  trust  you." 

"That  is  well.  Go  again  today  and  do  exactly 
as  you  did  yesterday.  Pledge  your  bracelets  as 
you  need  money,  complain  much  of  your  losses 
and  shed  a  few  tears  if  you  can." 

"I  do  not  know  which  is  the  easier,  sir 
scholar." 

Each  day  Suey  Sum  returned  to  tell  of  her  ill 
fortune,  and  each  day  Quan  Quock  Ming  advised: 

"Do  again  today  as  you  did  yesterday." 

On  the  morning  of  the  ninth  day  foreign  devils 
came  to  Quan  Quock  Ming's  house  and  placed 
upon  the  wall  the  instrument  for  wire  talking,  and 


108  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

at  three  o'clock  the  prophet  was  saying  to  the 
slave  girl: 

"You  are  good  and  obedient.  You  have  learned 
how  to  lose,  and  now  I  shall  tell  you  how  to  win. 
The  gods  will  instruct  me  through  this  machine 
of  the  foreign  devils.  Take  this  pen  and  ink  and 
mark  the  characters  as  I  instruct  you." 

Soon  there  came  the  ringing  of  a  bell  and  Quan 
Quock  Ming  put  the  hand  piece  of  the  instrument 
to  his  ear. 

"Be  ready,"  he  said  to  Suey  Sum.  "Earth — 
cloud — flood — moon — heat — autumn —  winter  — 
gold,"  he  called,  and  then  left  the  instrument.  "Go 
at  once  to  the  ten  agencies  that  you  have  been 
patronizing  and  at  each  mark  those  characters 
upon  a  fifty-cent  ticket  of  the  Tie  Loy  Company. 
For  the  other  two  mark  any  but  'dew'  and  'gem,' 
for  they  are  also  winning  charcters." 

"Then  why  should  I  not  mark  them,  too?" 

"Your  winnings  on  ten  characters  would  be 
more  than  the  second  companies  could  pay.  All 
will  grumble  as  it  is,  and  some  may  even  refuse, 
but  we  shall  see  about  that.  The  instant  the 
drawings  come  from  across  the  bay  collect  the 
money  and  come  to  me." 

Within  an  hour  Suey  Sum  came  running  in. 

"I  won!  I  won!"  she  cried,  and  began  throw- 
ing gold  by  the  handful  upon  the  table. 

"Did  I  not  tell  you  that  you  would?"  said  Quan 
Quock  Ming  sternly. 

"Yes,   but   I   can   hardly   believe   it   now,  sir 


THE  TURN  OF  FORTUNE         109 

scholar.  Such  great  good  fortune!  Now  I  shall 
be  able  to  buy  my  freedom  and  return  to  the 
Middle  Kingdom.    And  my  mother  will  be  rich!" 

Suey  Sum  laughed  and  clapped  her  hands  with 
joy.  Then  she  dropped  upon  a  stool,  flung  her 
arms  upon  the  table,  buried  her  face  in  them  and 
wept.  Quan  Quock  Ming  frowned,  shook  his 
head  and  clicked  his  tongue,  as  he  gathered  the 
coin  into  stacks. 

"All  have  not  paid,  or  you  have  been  cheated," 
he  said,  as  he  finished  counting  it. 

"It  does  not  matter,  sir  scholar.  There  is  still 
enough,"  sobbed  Suey  Sum. 

"Who  are  the  thieves  that  would  rob  an  unfor- 
tunate girl?" 

"Sang  Wo  and  Tai  Yick  refused  to  pay,  saying 
they  had  been  tricked." 

"I  shall  see  that  they  pay.  Return  to  your 
master  now  and  let  me  negotiate  with  him  for 
your  freedom.  I  will  be  able  to  make  a  better 
bargain  than  you,  and  it  must  be  done  promptly, 
else  he  may  hear  of  your  good  fortune  and  de- 
mand a  higher  price." 

"Do  not  haggle  with  him,  sir  scholar.  I  am  so 
eager  to  see  my  mother  that  I  can  hardly  wait  a 
day." 

Suey  Sum  dried  her  eyes  and  went  away  slowly 
and  weakly,  like  one  who  has  been  ill.  As  she 
passed  through  the  outer  room  she  stopped  to 
look  at  Fong  Fah  sewing  buttons  on  shirts  and 


no  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

jouncing  her  baby  on  her  knee.  Fong  Fah  glanced 
up  and  smiled  in  her  friendly  way. 

"You  are  a  wife  and  a  mother,"  said  Suey  Sum, 
"and  still  you  are  a  slave." 

"You  are  a  slave,"  replied  Fong  Fah,  softly, 
"but  still  you  are  free." 

"I  would  rather  be  a  slave  of  the  world  than 
the  wife  of  a  man;  but  I  should  like  to  have  a 
child  like  yours — if  I  were  sure  it  would  never 
be  a  slave." 

"Or  a  wife,"  said  Fong  Fah. 

Suey  Sum  touched  the  baby's  cheek  lightly  with 
her  finger-tips  and  went  her  way. 

"I  sent  for  you,  Loo  Yee,  to  ask  you  to  fix  a 
price  upon  the  slave  girl,  Suey  Sum,"  said  Quan 
Quock  Ming. 

"Are  you  seeking  an  investment  or  a  secondary 
wife?"  asked  Loo  Yee. 

"I  am  prepared  to  buy  this  girl.  Be  good 
enough  to  state  your  price." 

"I  will  sell  her  for  $3,000." 

"That  is  too  much." 

"The  price  at  which  she  may  buy  herself  has 
been  fixed  at  $1,800,  and  she  owes  the  interest  for 
nearly  two  years  at  three  per  cent  a  month.  The 
price  I  have  given  you  is  merely  principal  and 
interest." 

"I  will  pay  $2,200.  That  is  principal  and  in- 
terest at  one  per  cent." 

"I  cannot  accept  it.     I  would  lose  too  much." 


THE  TURN  OF  FORTUNE         1 1 1 

"She  may  die  or  run  away,  and  then  you  would 
lose  all." 

"You  are  taking  the  same  risk  if  you  buy  her." 

"I  am  willing  to  take  some  risk,  but  not  all." 

"I  will  meet  you  halfway.  I  will  accept 
$2,500." 

"I  will  pay  it.  Here  is  the  preliminary  present 
to  bind  the  bargain,"  and  Quan  Quock  Ming 
handed  him  a  few  small  coins.  "Draw  your  writ- 
ing of  sale  and  deliver  the  girl.  The  money  will 
be  ready." 

As  Loo  Yee  departed  a  kinsman  of  Quan 
Quock  Ming's  entered. 

"I  did  everything,  venerable  uncle,  as  you  di- 
rected," he  said.  "I  attended  the  drawing,  and 
the  very  instant  it  was  completed  I  ran  to  the 
speaking-machine  and  repeated  to  you  the  numbers 
that  had  been  drawn.    Was  it  successful?" 

"It  was  successful,  but  Sang  Wo  and  Tai  Yick 
refuse  to  pay,  saying  it  was  a  trick.  Take  these 
tickets  and  collect  the  money.  They  will  hardly  dare 
refuse  a  hatchetman  of  the  Suey  Sing  tong.  Do 
whatever  is  necessary,  and  I  guarantee  everything." 

"If  they  refuse  they  will  carry  their  coffins  on 
their  backs." 

"Sir  scholar,  you  did  not  tell  me  that  this  girl 
had  won  nearly  $5,000  in  the  lottery,"  complained 
Loo  Yee  when  he  came  to  deliver  Suey  Sum. 

"Loo  Yee,  you  did  not  tell  me  that  this  girl 
has  frequently  threatened  to  hang  herself  and 
owes  much  money." 


in  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Here  is  your  writing  and  your  slave." 

"Here  is  your  money." 

Loo  Yee  went  his  way,  shaking  his  head  and 
grumbling  over  the  bad  bargain  he  had  made. 

"Loo  Yee  gave  me  account  of  your  debts,  and 
I  have  paid  them  all,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming 
to  Suey  Sum. 

"Then,  sir  scholar,  I  am  quite  free?" 

"Yes,  you  are  quite  free." 

"And  how  much  money  have  I  left?" 

"Nothing.  It  was  necessary  to  use  much  for 
sacrifice  to  the  gods,  so  that  they  would  instruct 
me  how  to  proceed,  and  there  were  other  ex- 
penses." 

"It  is  no  matter.  I  can  soon  earn  enough  to 
take  me  back  to  the  Middle  Kingdom  and  keep 
my  mother  in  comfort  for  the  remainder  of  her 
life.     But  how  can  I  ever  pay  you,  sir  scholar?" 

"Very  easily,  Suey  Sum.  Give  me  a  cup  of  tea." 

Suey  Sum  poured  the  tea,  spilled  a  little  on  the 
floor  for  good  luck  and  handed  it  to  Quan  Quock 
Ming.    He  drank  it  quickly. 

"Now  you  should  be  very  happy,  Suey  Sum. 
Your  freedom  has  been  bought,  and  you  have 
given  the  ceremonial  cup.  You  are  no  longer  a 
slave,  but  my  secondary  wife.  Assist  Fong  Fah 
with  the  evening  meal.     I  am  hungry." 

"Aih-h-yah!"  cried  Suey  Sum,  as  she  fell  to 
the  floor. 

"Women  are  weak  and  foolish,"  said  Quan 
Quock  Ming. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  WATER-SNAKE  SHOWS  ITS   HEAD 

Quan  Quock  Ming,  promoter  of  happiness, 
and  longevity,  sat  beneath  the  shelter  of  his  faded 
sunshade  at  the  street  corner,  his  arms  resting 
upon  the  table  before  him  and  his  eyes  wandering 
listlessly  over  the  deserted  cross-ways. 

"Fortunes  1  Fortunes!  Good  fortune  for  all!" 
he  croaked  perfunctorily,  then  muttered  a  male- 
diction upon  the  heat  that  kept  prospective  patrons 
within  doors. 

A  premonitory  crash  of  gongs  sounded  in  the 
restaurant  opposite,  and  he  waited  expectantly  for 
the  beginning  of  the  orchestral  selection,  blinking 
with  each  succeeding  smash.  The  wooden  drums 
rattled  their  prelude,  and  the  fiddles  whined  a 
theme,  repeating  it  insistently  till  the  voice  of  a 
slave  girl  took  it  up,  then  dropping  into  a  punc- 
tuating accompaniment. 

"Ha!  'A  Wife's  Grief  Because  of  Her  Hus- 
band's Absence,'  "  muttered  Quan  Quock  Ming, 
as  he  recognized  the  ancient  ode  of  T'sin.  "The 
fool  should  have  provided  something  to  occupy 
her  time  more  profitably,"  and  he  wondered 
whether  his  three  wives  were  working  diligently 
at  the  shirts  from  the  factory  or  idling  over  the 
"3 


ii4  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

tea  of  the  chrysanthemum  bloom.  He  would  dis- 
cover later. 

His  eyes  closed,  opened  and  closed  again.  His 
chin  buried  itself  slowly  in  the  fat  beneath  it,  and 
his  horn-rimmed  spectacles  dropped  upon  the  table 
before  him.  Perspiration  oozed  from  his  face  like 
lard  from  the  jowls  of  a  roasting  pig,  and  he 
breathed  in  half-choked  gurgles.  As  the  orches- 
tra brought  its  whining,  twanging  and  clattering 
to  a  close  with  a  series  of  crashes,  he  started  from 
his  doze. 

uHai-i-ie!"  he  growled.  "May  ducks  guzzle 
the  livers  of  all  musicians!" 

He  mopped  his  face  with  a  green  silk  hand- 
kerchief and  refitted  his  red-buttoned  cap  to  the 
top  of  his  head,  as  he  would  the  lid  to  a  ginger 
jar.  He  set  his  spectacles  astride  the  end  of  his 
nose,  where  they  would  not  obstruct  his  vision, 
and  folded  his  hands  over  his  paunch  as  though 
to  hold  himself  upon  his  stool. 

"Fortunes !    Fortunes !    Good  fortune  for  all !" 

The  screen  door  of  the  Great  Harmony  and 
Good  Will  pork  shop  flew  open,  and  old  Wong 
Yee  Shi,  the  marriage  broker,  rushed  out  to  cry 
her  wrongs  to  the  world. 

"Aih-yah!"  she  screamed.  "Five  cents  for  six 
sausages  no  larger  than  punk-sticks!"  A  quick 
glance  up  and  down  the  street  convinced  her  that 
her  design  of  attracting  a  crowd  and  compelling 
a  compromise  was  hopeless.  "May  an  evil  spirit 
in  the  form  of  a  razor  cut  the  tallow  from  the 


THE  SNAKE  SHOWS  ITS  HEAD       115 

ribs  of  all  butchers  for  candles  to  light  their  way 
to  hell!"  she  shrieked,  as  she  straightened  the 
pad  over  the  bald  spot  at  her  forehead,  then 
turned  away  muttering  and  grumbling. 

"Fortunes !  Fortunes !  Good  fortune  for  all !" 
and  Quan  Quock  Ming  shook  his  urn  of  question- 
sticks  briskly. 

Wong  Yee  Shi  stopped  at  his  table  and  faced 
him  with  an  accusing  frown.  "Hai-ie  1  How  can 
you  promise  good  fortune  to  everyone,  when  there 
is  nothing  within  the  Four  Seas  but  misfortune?" 
she  demanded.     "Tell  me  that?" 

"All  fortune  is  good  fortune,  even  though  evil 
be  predicted,"  replied  Quan  Quock  Ming. 
"Warned  of  its  approach,  one  may  induce  the 
gods  to  avert  it  through  prayers  and  sacrifices," 
and  he  shook  the  sticks  invitingly. 

"You  know  very  well  that  evervone  meets  it," 
insisted  Wong  Yee  Shi. 

"No — only  the  foolish.  The  wise  know  noth- 
ing of  it." 

"Aih-yah!  I  am  the  most  unfortunate  of 
women !" 

"Therefore  the  most  foolish."  The  promoter 
of  happiness  and  longevity  nodded  sapiently. 

"Hai-ie !  Is  it  my  folly  that  makes  the  young 
people  immoral  and  unfilial?"  she  demanded. 

"How  have  they  become  so?  And  how  does  it 
concern  you,  if  they  have?"  he  asked. 

"Why,  the  girls  have  become  so  immodest  that 
they  actually  converse  with  the  young  men,  who 


n6  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

arrange  their  own  marriages — just  as  the  wicked 
foreign  devils  do — leaving  honest  marriage 
brokers  to  starve  and  indulgent  parents  to  grieve." 

"The  wise  always  profit  by  the  folly  of  others, 
Wong  Yee  Shi." 

"That  is  easy  to  say,  but  difficult  to  accom- 
plish."    She  nodded  a  challenge. 

"Easy  for  a  sage;  difficult  for  a  fool,"  he  an- 
swered. 

"Then  tell  me  how  I  can  turn  my  misfortunes 
to  account." 

"I  sfiall  first  show  you  how  I  can  use  them  to 
my  profit,  Wong  Yee  Shi.  Pay  me  a  fee  for 
advice." 

"Hai-ie!  Why  should  I  be  so  foolish  as  to  do 
that?" 

"In  order  that  you  may  gain  wisdom." 

Wong  Yee  Shi  took  a  coin  from  her  purse  and 
flung  it  upon  the  table.  "It  is  throwing  silver 
into  the  street,"  she  grumbled. 

"And  giving  you  advice  is  wasting  wisdom  on 
the  winds,  so  we  are  quits,  Wong  Yee  Shi.  But 
listen.  In  going  from  house  to  house  in  search 
of  husbands  for  girls  and  wives  for  men  you 
gather  much  gossip.  All  that  you  hear  is  of 
value  to  some  one.     Sort  it  and  sell  it." 

"Aih-yah!"  cackled  Wong  Yee  Shi.  "I  have 
heard  some  that  may  be  of  value  to  you,  sir 
scholar." 

"That  is  possible."  He  smiled  patronizingly. 
"Tell  me,  and  I  shall  pay  its  worth." 


THE  SNAKE  SHOWS  ITS  HEAD       117 

"Dr.  Young  Hop  often  visits  your  home  in 
your  absence.  I  have  heard  it  from  many,  and 
all  smile  in  speaking  of  it." 

"Hai-ie!"  Quan  Quock  Ming  sprang  from  his 
stool  so  suddenly  that  he  nearly  upset  his  table 
and  Wong  Yee  Shi  at  the  same  time.  "What  a 
great  misfortune!" 

"How  much  is  it  worth  to  you,  wise  philos- 
opher?" and  she  grinned  through  her  gums. 

"This  piece  of  silver!"  and  he  flung  the  coin 
at  her. 

"Such  a  great  misfortune  should  be  worth 
much  more,"  she  chuckled. 

"We  shall  see,"  growled  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"When  you  have  turned  it  to  account?" 

"Go  away!1' 

The  promoter  of  happiness  and  longevity 
snatched  the  sunshade  from  its  socket  and  closed 
it  with  a  snap.  He  kicked  the  legs  from  under 
the  table  and  folded  it  with  a  bang.  He  hung  his 
stool  from  the  crook  of  his  left  elbow,  tucked  the 
urn  of  question-sticks  under  his  right  arm,  and 
gathering  up  the  remainder  of  his  paraphernalia 
hurried  up  the  hill,  puffing  and  muttering.  He 
climbed  the  three  flights  of  stairs  and  kicked  on 
the  door  of  his  home.  In  three  slaps  of  a  pair 
of  slippers  it  opened,  and  he  tottered  in.  He 
threw  the  implements  of  his  profession  into  a 
corner,  dropped  on  a  stool  at  the  round  table  and 
labored  for  breath.  One  of  his  wives  brought 
him  a  fan,  another  a  cup  of  tea,  the  third — yes, 


n8  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

he  took  a  third  wife — his  water-pipe,  and  then 
all  resumed  their  sewing.  As  he  fanned  himself 
and  sipped  his  tea  he  glared  at  first  one  and  then 
another,  but  they  only  hung  their  heads  lower  and 
worked  faster. 

"Hai-ie!"  he  growled.  "Prepare  the  evening 
meal!" 

They  dropped  their  work  and  hurried  to  the 
kitchen.  He  shook  hfs  head  and  clicked  his  tongue 
as  he  filled  his  water-pipe. 

"Aih-yah !  To  expose  themselves  to  gossip  and 
their  honorable  husband  to  ridicule!"  he  mut- 
tered between  puffs.  uTs!  ts!  ts!  The  filthy 
swine !" 

The  Analects  of  Confucius  lay  open  before  him 
and  his  eyes  fell  upon  the  first  page. 

"Men  of  superior  minds  busy  themselves  first 
in  getting  at  the  root  of  things,"  he  read,  "and 
when  they  have  succeeded  in  this,  the  right  course 
is  open  to  them." 

Upon  reflection  he  nodded  his  approval.  "Yes; 
that  is  true,"  he  mused.  "The  man  is  at  the  root 
of  this  matter,  and  I  shall  get  at  him  first.  The 
water-snake  who  has  invaded  my  home  shall  learn 
that  I  am  no  turtle  to  hide  my  head  under  a  lily- 
leaf.  Which  one  is  guilty  is  a  question  of  no  im- 
portance, for  I  can  beat  the  three  of  them  and 
thus  make  sure  that  the  right  one  is  punished." 


CHAPTER  IV 

CONTENDING  WITH  THE  EVIL  SPIRITS 

At  the  very  moment  that  Quan  Quock  Ming 
sat  glaring  at  his  three  wives,  the  three  wives  of 
Lee  Sam  Yick,  two  floors  below,  stood  staring 
at  their  honorable  husband,  who  lay  upon  the 
flat  of  his  back. 

"No  one  ever  does  that,  unless  he  is  dead  or 
very  ill,"  whispered  the  first  wife. 

Lee  Sam  Yick  groaned  and  rolled  his  eyes. 

"No  one  ever  does  that  when  he  is  dead,"  de- 
clared the  second  wife. 

"That  is  true,"  said  the  others,  and  all  drew 
closer  to  his  couch  to  see  what  else  he  was  doing. 

Lee  Sam  Yick  took  a  short  breath  and  held  it 
so  long  that  they  wondered  how  he  managed  to 
make  it  last;  and  when  he  did  the  same  thing 
again,  they  marveled  that  he  had  enough  left  for 
a  groan. 

"Our  honorable  husband  must  be  ill,"  the  third 
wife  whispered. 

They  had  never  been  permitted  to  forget  that 
a  good  wife  should  have  no  mind  of  her  own, 
either  for  good  or  evil,  and  that  nothing  should 
be  done  without  consulting  their  honorable  hus- 
band, so  the  first  wife,  who  had  borne  him  a  son 

119 


120  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

and  was  therefore  free  to  speak  without  first  beg- 
ging his  permission,  asked: 

"What  is  the  matter,  honorable  husband  ?" 

Lee  Sam  Yick  took  another  breath  and  ex- 
pended a  part  of  it  on  another  groan,  but  none 
of  it  on  speech. 

"Are  you  iff?"  she  asked,  but  he  made  no  an- 
swer. "Shall  I  call  a  doctor?"  Still  he  did  not 
reply.  "Our  honorable  husband  has  no  breath 
to  waste  on  words,"  she  said,  "so  I  shall  speak 
to  Lee  Lim  of  the  matter.  Lee  Lim!  Hai-ie! 
Lee  Lim!" 

He  came  at  once,  watched  his  father's  queer 
breathing  and  listened  to  his  deep  groaning.  "Yes; 
my  honorable  father  is  ill.    Send  for  a  doctor." 

"Chin  Foo's  boy!  Hai-ie!  Chin  Foo's  boy!" 
screamed  the  first  wife  at  the  door.  "My  honor- 
able husband  is  thinking  of  dying!  Fetch  Young 
Hop,  the  doctor!" 

"Lee  Sam  Yick  is  dying,  and  I  am  going  for  a 
doctor  to  help  him!"  shouted  the  boy,  as  he  ran 
down  the  stairs  three  steps  at  a  time  and  then  up 
the  street,  pausing  only  long  enough  to  tell  all 
whom  he  met,  for  his  news  was  much  more  im- 
portant than  his  mission. 

The  neighbors  hurried  to  Lee  Sam  Yick's  house 
to  look  into  the  matter  and  crowded  about  the 
doorway.  When  they  saw  him  rolling  his  eyes 
and  heard  him  groaning,  they  asked : 

"Is  it  true  that  you  are  dying,  Lee  Sam  Yick?" 
but  he  made  no  reply.     "He  surely  intends  to 


CONTENDING  WITH  EVIL  SPIRITS    121 

die,"  they  said  to  one  another.  "Ts!  ts!  ts!"  and 
shook  their  heads.  -* 

"Aih-yah!"  cried  half  a  dozen  at  once,  as  Dr. 
Young  Hop  came  up  the  stair.  uLee  Sam  Yick 
surely  intends  to  die!"  and  the  children  began  to 
scream. 

"Hai-ie!  Are  all  of  you  physicians  then,  that 
you  know  so  much  about  the  matter?"  demanded 
the  doctor. 

"No;  but  we  have  said  it  several  times,  and 
he  does  not  deny  it,"  they  declared,  as  they  made 
way  for  him,  then  followed  him  in. 

Wishing  to  be  helpful  and  to  learn  more  of  Lee 
Sam  Yick's  illness,  all  that  could  hastened  to  re- 
move his  clothing,  then  stood  back  and  watched 
the  doctor  poke  and  pinch  him,  while  he  groaned 
louder  and  rolled  his  eyes  wider. 

"Ts!  ts!  ts!  He  is  in  a  very  bad  way,"  they 
said.    "It  will  be  a  big  funeral,  for  he  is  wealthy." 

Dr.  Young  Hop  straightened  himself,  tucked 
his  hands  in  his  sleeves  and  regarded  his  patient 
gravely  through  his  gold-rimmed  spectacles  while 
all  waited  breathlessly  for  his  decision. 

"Yes;  Lee  Sam  Yick  is  ill,"  he  said;  "and  some- 
thing must  be  done  about  it." 

"I  have  some  medicine  that  I  got  from  a  foreign 
devil's  drug  store  for  my  honorable  husband's 
knee,"  said  one. 

"And  I  have  some  syrup  that  I  keep  for  my 
baby's  cough,"  suggested  another. 


122  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"I  made  some  turnip  soup  for  my  cold  this  very 
morning,"  said  a  third. 

"Lee  Sam  Yick  is  no  baby,  and  he  has  no  cold," 
declared  the  doctor.  "Nor  is  the  trouble  in  his 
knee."  He  looked  from  one  to  another  gravely. 
"He  is  possessed  of  evil  spirits." 

"Aih-yah!"  gasped  the  women  and  drew  back 
toward  the  door. 

"Now  I  shall  proceed  to  drive  them  out,"  said 
Young  Hop. 

All  of  the  women  suddenly  remembered  that 
they  had  much  to  do  at  home  and  hurried  their 
children  away. 

"Is  it  true  that  my  honorable  husband  intends 
to  die?"  asked  the  first  wife. 

"No;  I  shall  not  permit  it,"  the  physician  as- 
sured her. 

Seeing  it  was  five  o'clock,  Dr.  Young  Hop 
forced  five  large  pills  down  Lee  Sam  Yick's  throat, 
painted  his  body  in  five  places  with  brown  medi- 
cine and  put  five  blisters  upon  him. 

"In  five  minutes  the  evil  spirits  will  begin  to 
leave  him,"  he  said,  "and  he  will  feel  much  bet- 
ter. In  five  days  he  will  be  quite  well.  I  will 
come  again  tomorrow." 

"That  is  good,"  said  Lee  Lim.  He  counted  the 
minutes  up  to  five.  "That  is  bad,"  he  muttered, 
as  his  father's  groans  grew  louder,  and  he  sent 
Chin  Foo's  boy  for  a  foreign  doctor. 

"Lee  Sam  Yick  is  dying  again,  and  I  am  going 
for  a  foreign  doctor !"  shouted  the  boy  as  he  ran. 


CONTENDING  WITH  EVIL  SPIRITS    123 

"If  the  evil  spirits  leave  Lee  Sam  Yick,  they 
will  surely  attack  some  other  person,"  said  the 
neighbors,  as  they  closed  their  doors  and  win- 
dows and  gave  the  children  li  chee  nuts  to  keep 
them  quiet. 

"Who  put  on  this  paint  and  these  blisters?" 
asked  the  white  physician,  after  he  had  examined 
Lee  Sam  Yick.  ^H 

"China  doctor,"  replied  Lee  Lim.  "He  say  evil 
spirits.    Can  drive  'em  out.    No  die." 

"He's  a  fool,"  declared  the  doctor.     "No  evil  <. 

spirits.  Bad  lungs,  bad  heart,  bad  liver — bad  all 
over.  Sure  die,"  and  he  pulled  off  the  blisters, 
wrote  a  prescription  and  went  away. 

"I  shall  have  to  see  a  fortune-teller  to  learn 
the  truth,"  thought  Lee  Lim. 

"Chinese  medicine  is  good,  and  foreign  medi- 
cine is  good,"  said  the  first  wife,  "and  both  to- 
gether will  surely  cure  my  honorable  husband." 

She  put  the  blisters  back  and  gave  the  powders 
that  the  physician  had  prescribed,  though  she  had 
much  difficulty  in  getting  Lee  Sam  Yick  to  swal- 
low the  papers.  She  got  a  bowl  of  turnip  soup 
from  the  woman  upstairs  and  gave  him  as  much 
of  that  as  she  could  compel  him  to  take  between 
groans.  Then  she  borrowed  the  liniment  from 
the  woman  next  door  and  the  cough  syrup  from 
the  one  at  the  end  of  the  hall,  and  gave  him  a 
spoonful  of  each,  for  she  could  not  remember 
which  was  to  be  taken  and  which  rubbed  in. 

"When  one  is  ill.  one  cannot  have  too  much 


i24  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

medicine,"  she  said,  and  hurried  to  the  foreign 
devil's  drug  store  to  buy  a  bottle  of  the  kind  that 
costs  a  dollar,  and  gave  him  that,  too.  Still  Lee 
Sam  Yick  groaned  and  rolled  his  eyes. 

"There  is  but  one  way  to  account  for  it,"  de- 
clared Dr.  Young  Hop  the  next  day.  "They  must 
be  very  obstinate  and  malignant  spirits.  But  I 
shall  yet  succeed  in  driving  them  out." 

He  gave  more  pills,  applied  more  paint  and 
blisters,  burned  joss  paper  and  lighted  punks. 
"Now  you  must  leave  him  alone  for  five  days 
without  food  or  drink,"  he  ordered.  "The  win- 
dow must  be  left  open,  so  that  the  spirits  may 
go  out  when  they  become  hungry  and  thirsty.  The 
door  must  be  kept  locked,  or  they  will  surely  re- 
main in  the  house." 

"How  is  the  sick  man?"  inquired  the  white 
physician. 

"Jess  now  he  go  out,"  replied  Lee  Lim. 


CHAPTER  V 

PROPHET  AND  PRIEST  COMBINE 

The  promoter  of  happiness  and  longevity  was 
smacking  his  lips  over  the  evening  meal,  and  his 
three  wives  were  attending  him.  The  moment  he 
laid  aside  his  chop-sticks  one  poured  his  itea. 
When  he  had  finished  his  third  cup  another  placed 
a  bowl  of  hot  water  before  him.  When  his  wet 
fingers  had  passed  over  his  mouth  for  the  third 
time  another  gave  him  a  towel. 

"Now  I  shall  take  my  rest,"  he  said,  as  he 
dried  his  hands. 

He  rose  from  the  table,  kicked  off  his  slippers, 
stretched  himself  upon  his  couch  and  closed  his 
eyes. 

"Silence  irritates  me,  loud  sounds  disturb  me, 
but  the  murmur  of  voices  soothes  me,"  he  had 
told  them  once,  and  the  admonition  had  been  but 
once  forgotten. 

As  the  women  settled  themselves  at  the  table 
to  finish  what  he  had  left,  they  glanced  at  him 
furtively  and  saw  a  frown  gathering. 

"We  have  earned  75  cents  today,"  murmured 
one  quickly,  and  the  frown  began  to  relax. 

"Tomorrow  we  should  be  able  to  earn  nearly 
80  cents,"  said  another.    The  frown  disappeared. 

125 


126  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"The  wife  of  Lim  Toy  has  borne  her  husband 
a  son,"  observed  the  third. 

"There  will  be  a  great  feast,"  reflected  Quan 
Quock  Ming,  "and  I  shall  advise  Lim  Toy  to  have 
it  at  the  Lotus  Flower  restaurant.  I  should  get  a 
good  commission." 

"Lee  Sam  Yick  is  very  ill,"  said  the  first  wife. 

"The  foreign  doctor  says  he  will  surely  die," 
remarked  the  third,  "but  the  Chinese  doctor  says 
that  he  will  not." 

"What  doctor  was  called?"  asked  one. 

The  third  wife  glanced  sharply  at  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  and  saw  his  eyelids  quivering. 

"I  don't  know,"  she  answered  quickly.  Quan 
Quock  Ming  frowned  again.  "But  I  think — some- 
one said " 

The  bell  rang,  and  she  hastened  to  open  the 
door. 

"Is  the  promoter  of  happiness  and  longevity  at 
home?"  asked  Lee  Lim. 

She  answered  him  by  opening  the  door  wider. 

"Hai-i-ie!"  growled  Quan  Quock  Ming,  as  he 
sat  up  on  the  couch.  "Is  one  not  permitted  to 
Test  in  his  own  home?  One  may  as  well  be  a 
stray  dog  in  the  streets!" 

As  he  shoved  his  feet  into  his  slippers  he  cal- 
culated the  extra  charge  to  be  made  for  the  dis- 
turbance of  his  tranquillity.  Lee  Lim  advanced 
the  three  polite  paces  and  made  the  three  saluta- 
tions, as  he  would  upon  entering  the  presence  of 
a  minor  official. 


PROPHET  AND  PRIEST  COMBINE     127 

"How  is  your  health,  sir  scholar?"  he  asked 
courteously. 

"Good!"  grunted  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"You  are  very  fortunate,"  murmured  Lee  Lim. 

"Did  you  disturb  me  to  tell  my  fortune  or  to 
have  yours  told?"  demanded  the  promoter  of 
happiness  and  longevity,  who  had  no  patience  with 
the  rule  of  propriety  that  forbids  one  speaking  of 
his  business  too  precipitately. 

"I  came  to  have  mine  told,  sir  scholar." 

"That  is  soon  done."  He  took  up  his  urn  of 
question-sticks,  shook  them  and  held  them  before 
Lee  Lim.     "Choose  one,"  he  ordered. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  held  it  to  the  light  and 
studied  it  intently,  knitting  his  brows,  shaking  his 
head  and  mumbling  over  the  characters  inked 
upon  it. 

"Ah!  I  see!"  he  exclaimed,  as  light  broke  over 
his  face.  "You  are  anxious  about  something,  and 
you  wish  to  know  whether  it  will  end  happily?" 

"That  is  true,  sir  scholar,"  admitted  Lee  Lim. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  tapped  the  question-stick  im- 
pressively with  the  long  nail  of  his  little  finger. 
"This  tells  me  that  your  honorable  father  is  ill," 
he  said,  "and  you  wish  to  know  whether  he  will 
live  or  die." 

"It  is  marvelous,  sir  scholar,  that  you  should 
know  my  thoughts." 

"A  foreign  doctor  has  said  he  will  die;  a  Chi- 
nese doctor  that  he  will  live.  Is  it  not  so,  Lee 
Lim?" 


128  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"It  is  exactly  as  you  say,  sir  scholar." 

"And  they  differed  as  greatly  concerning  the 
cause  of  his  illness,  did  they  not?" 

"Yes.  The  Chinese  doctor  says  it  is  the  work 
of  evil  spirits;  the  foreign  devil  that  it  is  not." 

"And  you  came  to  me  to  be  told  the  truth,  Lee 
Lim?" 

"Yes,  sir  scholar." 

"You  have  acted  wisely.  The  truth,  like  your 
honorable  father,  lies  between  two  liars,  Lee  Lim. 
Your  honorable  father's  illness  is  the  work  of  evil 
spirits — and  he  will  die." 

"Aih-yah!" 

"What  Chinese  doctor  did  you  have,  Lee  Lim  ?" 

"Young  Hop." 

"Ah!"  Quan  Quock  Ming  glanced  sharply  at 
his  wives  and  saw  two  of  them  look  up  at  Shim 
Ming,  the  youngest.  ffAh!"  he  repeated  and 
smiled  knowingly.  "You  may  as  well  send  for 
the  bonze  to  make  the  sacrifices  and  offer  the 
prayers,  Lee  Lim.  Be  careful  to  get  one  who 
knows  the  ways  of  evil  spirits." 

"Would  you  recommend  one,  sir  scholar?  I 
do  not  know  the  priests." 

"Well — as  a  favor  to  you,  Lee  Lim — I  will 
say  this  much :  You  should  employ  Soo-hoo  Hung. 
He  is  a  very  learned  man." 

"I  shall  follow  your  advice,  sir  scholar." 

"If  there  should  be  anything  in  your  honorable 
father's  business  affairs  that  will  require  the  at- 


PROPHET  AND  PRIEST  COMBINE     129 

tention  of  a  lawyer,  be  very  careful  in  your  se- 
lection, or  you  may  be  unfortunate." 

"I  shall  ask  your  advice  in  that  case,  sir  scholar. 
Now  I  shall  walk  my  way." 

The  moment  Lee  Lim  had  paid  the  fee  and  de- 
parted, Quan  Quock  Ming  laid  aside  his  spec- 
tacles, clapped  on  his  cap,  slipped  into  his  fur- 
lined  jacket  and  hurried  to  the  house  of  Soo-hoo 
Hung.  The  priest  had  just  finished  his  fourth 
pipe  of  opium  and  was  still  reclining  upon  the 
bunk. 

"My  door  never  creaks  when  you  enter,  sir 
scholar."  The  "bonze  smiled  amiably  up  at  Quan 
Quock  Ming. 

"And  it  never  slams  when  I  depart,"  replied 
the  teller  of  fortunes,  as  he  kicked  off  his  slippers. 

"Because  you  are  indeed  a  promoter  of  happi- 
ness." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  stretched  himself  upon  the 
bunk,  took  up  the  pipe  and  began  cooking  opium 
for  himself.  "Alas!  I  am  a  bearer  of  sad  news 
tonight.     A  man  is  about  to  die." 

"How  unfortunate — for  the  man!"  observed 
Soo-hoo  Hung. 

"Yes;  he  is  very  wealthy." 

"Funerals  have  been  few  and  fees  small  of 
late,"  said  the  bonze.    "I  must  see  to  this." 

"I  have  already  attended  to  the  matter,  Soo- 
hoo  Hung,  and  you  will  be  employed." 

"You  shall  receive  the  usual  commission,  sir 
scholar." 


130  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"I  expected  it,  or  I  would  have  mentioned  the 
name  of  another  bonze.'* 

"Who  is  the  man?" 

"Lee  Sam  Yick." 

"Aih-yah!  It  will  be  a  big  funeral.  What  is 
Wb  affliction,  sir  scholar?" 

"Evil  spirits,"  replied  Quan  Quock  Ming. 
"What  else  can  afflict  a  wealthy  man?" 

"Nothing — so  long  as  doctors  are  eager  to  get 
large  fees.  It  is  disgusting!  Ts!  tsl  ts!  They 
would  leave  nothing  for  the  priests." 

"Hai-ie!  Which  is  more  important — pills  for 
the  living  or  prayers  for  the  dead?  Tell  me 
that,"  demanded  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"If  I  were  the  man,  I  should  say  the  pills,  sir 
scholar." 

"If  you  were  a  dead  man,  you  would  say " 

"Nothing,"  laughed  the  priest. 

"You  have  had  too  much  opium,  Soo-hoo 
Hung,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming  reprovingly. 
"Give  heed  to  what  I  am  saying,  and  it  will  be 
to  your  profit." 

"Likewise  to  yours,  sir  scholar.  My  ears  are 
open." 

"If  you  were  the  filial  and  therefore  foolish  son 
of  a  wealthy  man,  Soo-hoo  Hung,  you  would  pay 
much  for  pills  for  the  living,  as  Lee  Lim  does, 
and  you  would  pay  much  more  for  prayers  for 
the  dead,  as  he  will." 

"And  Lee  Sam  Yick  will  be  dead  much  longer 
fhan  he  will  be  alive,"  chuckled  the  priest. 


PROPHET  AND  PRIEST  COMBINE     131 

"Now  when  the  evil  spirits  have  succeeded  in 
killing  him,  they  will  still  remain  in  his  body,  will 
they  not?" 

"Certainly,  sir  scholar." 

"And  prayers  instead  of  pills  will  be  required 
to  get  rid  of  them." 

"That  is  true,  sir  scholar.  Only  a  bonze  can 
drive   them   out." 

"And  that  involves  much  time,  trouble  and  ex- 
pense," continued  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"Time  and  tro»Me  are  as  nothing  to  me,  sir 
scholar,  so  long  as  others  bear  the  expense,"  de- 
clared Soo-hoo  Hung.  "Evil  spirits  are  obstinate 
and  exacting,  and  invariably  refuse  to  depart  till 
the  money  or  the  patience  of  the  family  is  ex- 
hausted." 

"Thus  much  good  flows  from  evil,  Soo-hoo 
Hung.  But  what  do  you  do  with  the  spirits  when 
you  drive  them  out?" 

"Oh,  let  them  go  their  way.  That  is  the  end 
of  the  matter." 

"Why  let  it  end  there,  when  it  may  be  pursued 
further  with  profit?"  asked  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"I  follow  profit  with  willing  feet  and  eager 
hands,  sir  scholar,"  laughed  Soo-hoo  Hung. 
"Show  me  the  way." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  remained  silent  long  enough 
to  cook,  roll  and  smoke  another  portion  of  opium, 
then  laid  aside  the  pipe. 

"What  will  the  evil  spirits  do  when  they  leave 
Lee  Sam  Yick?"  He  asked. 


132  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Doubtless  busy  themselves  in  annoying  some 
other  person,"  replied  Soo-hoo  Hung. 

"Whom  would  they  be  most  likely  to  select?" 

The  priest  pondered  and  shook  his  head.  "I 
cannot  say,  sir  scholar." 

"Why,  an  enemy — one  who  has  been  opposing 
them — most  probably  the  doctor.  Yes;  you  must 
send  them  after  the  doctor." 

"Hai-ie!  I  had  never  thought  of  that!" 
laughed  Soo-hoo  Hung. 

"Think  more  of  it,  and  you  will  think  well  of 
it." 

"But  where  will  be  the  profit,  sir  scholar?" 

"Leave  that  to  me." 

"And  how  can  it  be  done?  Even  a  priest  can- 
not send  evil  spirits  after  persons  as  he  would 
ferrets  after  rats." 

"We  will  find  the  way,  Soo-hoo  Hung." 

"Hai-ie!     But  that  will  be  a  great  joke!" 


CHAPTER  VI 

OBSTINATE    SPIRITS    AND    DETERMINED    MEN 

While  Lee  Sam  Yick  lay  struggling  with  the 
evil  spirits  that  beset  him,  his  wives  went  softly 
about  their  household  duties,  and  his  son  offered 
prayers  at  the  family  altar  and  sacrifices  at  the 
Tien  How  Temple.  Often  they  paused  at  Lee 
Sam  Yick's  door  to  listen  and  hurried  away  when 
he  groaned.  Once  there  came  from  his  room  a 
sound  as  though  he  had  fallen,  and  listening  they 
heard  him  call  feebly. 

"I  must  go  to  my  honorable  husband,"  cried 
the  first  wife. 

"No — not  yet,"  said  Lee  Lim.  "It  is  only  the 
fourth  day." 

Then  they  heard  the  sound  of  coin  clinking,  fall- 
ing and  rolling  upon  the  floor. 

"Aih-yah !"  cried  the  first  wife.  "It  is  the  death 
offering  to  the  evil  spirits.     I  must  go  to  him !" 

"No;  only  the  gods  can  aid  my  honorable 
father  now,"  said  Lee  Lim,  as  he  led  her  away 
from  the  door. 

He  prostrated  himself  at  the  family  altar  and 
beseeched  the  souls  of  his  ancestors  to  aid  his 
father.  The  three  wives  knelt  to  the  Mother  of 
Heaven   and  prayed   silently,   the   first  that  her 

133 


i34  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

husband  might  be  spared,  the  second  that  suitable 
provision  might  be  made  for  her  support  by  the 
family  of  Lee,  and  the  third,  that  she  might  still 
find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  a  younger  man. 

"You  may  unlock  the  door,"  said  Dr.  Young 
Hop  on  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day. 

"Aih-yah !  Aih-yah !"  cried  the  first  wife,  when 
she  saw  her  honorable  husband  still  lying  upon 
his  back — not  in  his  bed,  but  upon  the  floor  among 
the  gold  and  silver  offerings. 

"Hai-ie!"  exclaimed  the  doctor.  "How  unfor- 
tunate! He  has  foolishly  permitted  his  spirit  to 
accompany  the  evil  ones,"  and  he  departed  in  dis- 
appointment and  disgust,  but  not  before  he  had 
gathered  up  the  coins. 

The  three  women  stood  at  the  windows  of  the 
house  waving  the  garments  of  Lee  Sam  Yick  and 
crying  to  their  husband's  spirit  to  return  to  them, 
while  Lee  Lim  waited  in  silence  for  the  bonze  to 
come  with  punk-sticks  and  prayer  paper. 

"What  was  the  cause  of  your  honorable  father's 
departure?"  asked  Soo-hoo  Hung. 

"Evil  spirits,"  replied  Lee  Lim.  "They  at- 
tacked his  heart,  and  liver  and  lungs." 

"Hai-ie!"  exclaimed  the  priest,  and  rolled  his 
eyes  to  heaven,  mumbled  a  pious  invocation  and 
bowed  with  clasped  hands  three  times  toward  the 
north. 

"Now  there  is  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  pro- 
vide a  funeral  suitable  to  his  wealth  and  station," 
said  Lee  Lim. 


OBSTINATE  SPIRITS  135 

"There  is  much  more  to  be  done,  Lee  Lim," 
and  the  bonze  shook  his  head  gravely. 

"The  elders  of  my  clan  will  order  the  funeral 
meats,  hire  the  carriages,  employ  the  mourners 
and  bear  him  to  his  tomb,"  replied  Lee  Lim. 

"There  is  more  yet  to  be  done,  Lee  Lim.  The 
evil  spirits  must  first  be  driven  out  of  your  hon- 
orable  father's  body." 

"But  Dr.  Young  Hop  said  they  had  gone." 

"He  knows  more  of  pills  and  plasters  than  of 
the  ways  of  spirits.  If  they  should  be  interred 
with  your  father's  bones,  his  spirit  would  never 
know  a  moment's  rest,  and  neither  you  nor  your 
children,  nor  your  children's  children  would  ever 
know  anything  but  misfortune.  You'  may  as  well 
lay  him  in  a  low  place  with  his  head  to  the  south 
and  be  done  with  it." 

"Aih-yah !"  cried  Lee  Lim.  "What  is  to  be 
done?" 

"It  is  a  very  delicate  and  difficult  matter^  Lee 
Lim.  I  shall  first  be  compelled  to  offer  sacri- 
fices at  the  Tien  How  Temple." 

"Take  this,"  and  Lee  Lim  gave  the  priest  sev- 
eral gold  coins.  "Neglect  nothing  that  may  be 
necessary." 

For  seven  days  Soo-hoo  Hung  burned  incense 
and  opium  at  the  expense  of  Lee  Lim,  sharing  the 
pipe  and  the  money  with  Quan  Quock  Ming,  who 
in  return  gave  sage  advice. 

"My  father's  body  is  still  unburied,"  Lee  Lim 
then  said  to  the  priest,  "and  the  wicked  foreign 


i36  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

devils  are  threatening  to  put  me  in  prison  if  I 
do  not  attend  to  the  matter.  I  have  already  paid 
you  $250,  and  nothing  has  been  accomplished. 
What  am  I  to  do?" 

The  bonze  shook  his  head  and  sighed.  "I  fear 
there  is  but  one  way,  Lee  Lim,"  he  said.  "I  had 
hoped  to  find  another,  but  it  cannot  be  done." 

"Tell  me  the  way,  and  I  shall  follow  it." 

"It  is  now  certain  that  the  evil  spirits  do  not 
intend  to  leave  your  honorable  father's  body  till 
another  is  provided  for  them." 

"That  should  not  be  so  very  difficult,"  said  Lee 
Lim  eagerly.  "A  picker  of  rags,  who  has  no  kins- 
men, died  yesterday,  and " 

"Hai-ie!  Do  you  think  the  spirits  that  at- 
tacked your  honorable  father  would  be  satisfied 
with  the  filthy  carcass  of  a  rag-picker?" 

"Then  what  is  to  be  done?    Tell  me." 

"They  might  be  induced  to  attack  Dr.  Young 
Hop,"  whispered  the  priest.  "He  is  the  enemy 
that  has  been  opposing  them.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  if  he  were  to  die  they  would  be  very  glad  to 
make  him  uncomfortable." 

"But  he  is  young  and  healthy,  and  I  cannot  keep 
my  father's  body  unburied  till  he  dies." 

"It  is  possible,  Lee  Lim,  that  some  good  spirits 
might  be  persuaded  to  assist.  I  am  quite  certain 
it  could  be  arranged  if  as  much  as  $500  were  paid 
— for  sacrifices.     It  is  the  only  way." 

"I  will  provide  the  means,  for  I  am  a  filial  son," 
said  Lee  Lim. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE   DEATH   SONG 


The  three  wives  of  Quan  Quock  Ming  sat 
cross-legged  upon  the  bare  floor  around  a  small 
lamp,  sewing  buttons  on  shirts.  Quan  Quock 
Ming  sat  at  his  round  table  impatiently  turning 
the  leaves  of  a  fat  dirty  book — "The  Geomancer's 
Lantern  and  Staff" — in  search  of  the  table  of 
lucky  days  upon  which  one  may  punish  an  enemy. 

"Ha!  The  3rd,  5th,  7th,  9th,  21st  or  27th," 
he  read.  "This  is  the  5th  day  of  the  month. 
That  is  fortunate — provided  Soo-hoo  Hung  is 
successful?" 

A  violent  ringing  at  the  door  interrupted  the 
sewing  and  the  soliloquy,  and  when  it  was  opened 
the  priest  rushed  in. 

"Hai-ie!  Did  any  one  ever  hear  of  such 
wickedness!"  He  clicked  his  tongue  and  shook 
his  head  in  disgust.  Quan  Quock  Ming  eyed  him 
over  his  spectacles  and  waited  for  the  explanation. 
"What  is  worse  than  an  unfilial  son?"  demanded 
Soo-hoo  Hung.  "Ts!  ts!  ts!"  The  fortune- 
teller merely  blinked  his  eyes  without  taking  them 
from  the  face  of  the  bonze.  "I  told  Lim  that  it 
would  require  $500  at  the  very  least  to  secure  the 

137 


138  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

peaceful  repose  of  his  father's  bones,  but  he  re- 
fused to  pay  more  than  $400." 

"Hai-i-ie!"  growled  Quan  Quock  Ming.  "We 
are  doubly  unfortunate.    Ts !  ts !  ts !" 

"Why?  What  has  happened,  sir  scholar? 
Couldn't  you  find  a  fighting  man  to  attend  to  the 
matter?" 

"One  accepted  the  employment  at  $300,  but 
now  demands  $400." 

"Aih-yahl  That  will  leave  nothing  for  us. 
Give  the  employment  to  another." 

"Shall  I  say  to  him  that  you  oppose  it?"  asked 
Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"Hai-ie!  Do  you  want  to  have  me  killed? 
Ts !  ts !  ts !    It's  very  bad,  but  let  him  have  it." 

"I  am  certain,  Soo-hoo  Hung,  that  each  of  us 
has  done  the  best  that  he  could.     Is  it  not  so?" 

"Yes — certainly — but — " 

"Then  give  me  the  money,  and  I  will  attend  to 
the  matter." 

"It  must  be  done  at  once,  sir  scholar,"  said  the 
priest.  "The  foreign  devils  have  threatened  to 
take  Lee  Lim  to  prison  unless  he  buries  his 
father's  body  at  once." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  blinked  his  eyes  and  pon- 
dered. If  Lee  Lim  were  taken  to  prison  he  would 
require  a  lawyer.  But  the  offense  would  be 
trifling,  the  fee  small  and  the  commission  from 
the  attorney  only  a  third  of  it. 

"Lee  Lim  may  bury  his  father  tomorrow,"  he 
said. 


THE  DEATH  SONG  139 

The  priest,  cursing  unfilial  sons  and  extortion- 
ate fighting  men,  counted  out  the  money  with 
lingering  reluctance  and  departed.  Quan  Quock 
Ming  counted  it  again  and  put  it  away  in  his 
camphor-wood  chest. 

"To  be  prosperous  one  must  not  only  keep  all 
that  comes  to  him,  but  must  contrive  to  get  more," 
he  mused,  as  he  took  up  his  water-pipe  and  re- 
sumed his  seat  at  the  table.  "Too  much  light  im- 
pedes thought.'*  He  extinguished  the  lamp  and 
puffed  and  pondered  in  semi-darkness.  "Ha!  It 
is  very  simple.    Call  Chin  Foo's  boy,"  he  ordered. 

The  first  wife  went  to  the  top  of  the  stairs  and 
screamed  down:  "Chin  Foo's  boy!  Hai-ie!  Chin 
Foo's  boy!" 

"Go  to  the  Great  Profit  to  the  Four  Families 
tobacco  shop,"  Quan  Quock  Ming  directed  the 
boy,  "and  tell  Quan  Ben  to  come  here  at  once." 

"I'm  going  to  find  Quan  Benl"  shouted  the 
boy,  as  he  ran  down  the  stairs. 

While  awaiting  the  coming  of  his  kinsman 
Quan  Quock  Ming  watched  his  wives  working 
with  monotonous  deftness  and  rapidity.  The 
light  of  their  lamp  fell  squarely  upon  the  face  of 
Shim  Ming,  and  he  studied  her  leisurely.  He 
smiled  as  he  reflected  upon  the  wisdom  of  his 
ancient  ancestors  that  prompted  them  to  repeat 
the  ideographic  character  for  "women"  to  make 
"wrangle,"  and  the  addition  of  another  "woman" 
to  mean  "intrigue." 

Shim    Ming,  vaguely  conscious  of  his  steady 


Ho  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

gaze,  shifted  and  glanced  toward  him  furtively, 
but  saw  only  the  glow  of  his  pipe.  At  the  sound 
of  footsteps  without  she  dropped  her  work  and 
hurried  to  open  the  door. 

"Come  in,  younger  nephew,"  said  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  as  his  clansman  hesitated  at  the  threshold. 
"Sit  down,  younger  nephew." 

"It  is  dark,  venerable  uncle,"  said  Quan  Ben. 

"Darkness  has  indeed  descended  upon  the  clan 
of  Quan,"  sighed  Quan  Quock  Ming,  "and  you 
are  to  be  the  bearer  of  light,  younger  nephew." 

"What  shadow  has  fallen,  venerable  uncle?" 

"The  heaviest — the  blackest — younger  nephew, 
and  all  of  the  family  of  Quan  must  hang  their 
heads  in  shame  till  it  is  lifted." 

"Hai-i-ie!  That  is  very  bad.  But  why  am  I 
selected  to  do  this,  venerable  uncle?" 

"Because  it  must  be  done,"  replied  Quan  Quock 
Ming. 

"Then  why  does  not  the  one  who  has  lost  his 
face  boldly  recover  it?" 

"By  such  a  course  he  would  advertise  our  dis- 
grace more  broadly,  younger  nephew.  It  must  be 
done  secretly  by  another." 

"Then  why  does  he  not  pay  a  fighting  man  to 
do  it,  venerable  uncle?  They  ask  no  questions  if 
the  reward  be  ample." 

"They  would  surmise — and  whisper — and  laugh 
at  a  clan  so  weak  that  it  is  compelled  to  buy  its 
face.     You  must  do  it,  younger  nephew." 

"I  am  no  fighting  man,  venerable  uncle,  but  it  is 


THE  DEATH  SONG  141 

my  duty  to  obey  the  elders  of  my  family.  It  shall 
be  as  you  say.    Tell  me  the  name." 

"His  name  is — "  Quan  Quock  Ming  turned  his 
eyes  upon  Shim  Ming — "Young  Hop."  She 
started  and  dropped  her  sewing.  "What  is  the 
matter,  Shim  Ming?"  he  asked. 

"I — pricked  my  finger,  honorable  husband." 

"Fetch  us  fresh  tea." 

As  she  placed  it  upon  the  table  her  hands  shook 
so  that  she  spilled  it. 

"Hai-i-ie!  What  is  the  matter  with  you?"  de- 
manded Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"I  burned  myself,  honorable  husband." 

"You  appear  to  be  ill,  Shim  Ming." 

"No;  I  do  not  feel  ill,  honorable  husband." 

"If  you  should  fall  ill  you  would  be  unable  to 
do  your  sewing,  and  that  would  be  very  bad. 
Shall  I  not  call  a  doctor  for  you?" 

"No — no,  honorable  husband — don't.  I  am 
quite  well." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  shook  his  head  gravely. 
"No;  you  surely  need  a  doctor,  Shim  Ming,"  he 
said,  and  rose  from  the  table,  went  to  the  door 
and  called: 

"Chin  Foo'sboy!" 

"Haie!"  responded  the  boy,  and  hurried  up 
the  stairs. 

"Go  fetch  a  doctor  quickly — the  doctor  that 
killed  Lee  Sam  Yick." 

"I  am  going  for  the  doctor  that  killed  Lee  Sam 


142  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

Yick!"  shouted  the  boy  as  he  ran,  and  all  who 
heard  him  laughed. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  opened  his  camphor-wood 
chest  and  took  out  a  large  revolver.  As  he  handed 
it  to  his  kinsman  he  smiled  and  said: 

"The  pills  in  this  are  not  so  large  as  some 
physicians  prescribe  but  they  are  even  more  ef- 
fective." 

Quan  Ben  hid  it  under  his  blouse.  "Now  I  shall 
walk  my  way,  venerable  uncle." 

"Walk  slowly,  younger  nephew,"  replied  Quan 
Quock  Ming.  "The  hallway  at  the  second  floor 
is  very  dark — when  the  lamp  is  extinguished.  Be 
careful." 

"I  will  be  both  careful  and  sure,  venerable 
uncle." 

"Remember — the  second  floor!  I  want  no  for- 
eign devil  officials  kicking  upon  my  door  with 
their  big  boots." 

"It  shall  be  as  you  say,  venerable  uncle." 

"Light  my  lamp,  Shim  Ming,"  ordered  Quan 
Quock  Ming.  "Ah !  That  is  better.  You  should 
not  work  when  you  are  not  feeling  well.  Rest — 
and  while  you  are  doing  so,  sing  to  me." 

Shim  Ming  took  up  the  dulcimer  hammers  and 
struck  the  strings  of  the  yung  kum  lightly  to  see 
that  it  was  in  tune. 

"I  think  I  would  like  to  hear  one  of  the  odes 
of  T'sin."  Quan  Quock  Ming  smiled  up  at  her. 
"Yes — by  all  means — one  of  the  odes  of  T'sin. 


THE  DEATH  SONG  143 

Sing   'The   Lady   Lamenting  the   Death   of  her 
Lover.'  " 

While  Shim  Ming,  with  her  eyes  fixed  upon  the 
instrument,  played  and  sang,  Quan  Quock  Ming, 
his  hands  folded  over  his  abdomen,  smiled  up  at 
her,  rocked  himself  and  nodded  the  time.  And 
these  were  the  words  she  sang: 

"My  lover  like  the  pine  tree  grew, 
And   lordly  was  the  mien   he  bore. 

Ah,  me! 
But  I   shall   see   him   nevermore. 

"My   lover   like  the  pine  tree  stood, 
And  bowed  toward  my  humble  door. 

Ah,  me! 
But  I  shall  see  him  nevermore. 

"My  lover  like  the  pine  tree  sighed; 
Each  breeze  to  me   a  message  bore. 

Ah,  me! 
But  I  shall  hear  them  nevermore. 

"My  lover  like  the  pine  tree  fell; 

But  still  his  shadow's  on  my  floor " 

The  sound  of  a  shot  roared  up  from  the  lower 
floors  and  with  it  the  death  cry  of  a  man: 

"Ah-ma!" 

Shim  Ming  faltered  for  only  an  instant  before 
she  half  cried,  half  echoed: 

"Ah,  me! 
And  I   shall   see   it  evermore!" 

As  she  finished  the  hammers  dropped  from  her 
hands  and  clattered  on  the  floor.  Quan  Quock 
Ming  smiled  and  nodded. 

"Very  good,  Shim  Ming — very  good!  You 
sang  that  with  much   feeling.      I   think  you  are 


i44  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

cured,  Shim  Ming.  You  may  return  to  your 
work." 

With  bowed  head  Shim  Ming  took  her  place 
among  the  other  wives  and  took  up  her  sewing. 
Quan  Quock  Ming  resumed  his  reading  where  it 
had  been  interrupted,  pausing  long  enough  to  say: 

"I  think  I  will  have  fried  noodles  for  break- 
fast, Shim  Ming." 

"Hai-ie!  Sir  scholar!"  shouted  Chin  Foo's  boy 
in  the  hall.  "Dr.  Young  Hop  is  dead  at  Lee 
Sam  Yick's  door!" 

"Aih-yah!  How  unfortunate!"  exclaimed  the 
promoter  of  happiness  and  longevity.  "Now  I 
must  lose  my  rest  to  seek  a  priest  for  Young  Hop's 
widow  and  a  lawyer  for  Lee  Sam  Yick's  son. 
Ts!  tslts!" 


BOOK  III 

EAST  AGAINST  WEST 
CHAPTER  I 

THE  FEEL  OF  STEEL  BRACELETS 

"Promoter  of  Happiness  and  Longevity." 

I  read  the  carved  and  gilded  characters  above 
Quan  Quock  Ming's  door  while  awaiting  a  re- 
sponse to  my  ring.  From  within  came  the  odor 
of  opium  burned  in  the  pipe,  the  shuffle  of  slip- 
pered feet,  and  then  the  high-pitched  voice  of  a 
woman — one  of  the  three  wives  of  the  fortune 
teller — demanding : 

"Who's  there?" 

"Little  Pete,"  I  answered,  thoughtlessly  giv- 
ing the  name  by  which  I  am  known  only  to  the 
foreign  devils. 

"Who?" 

"Fung  Ching,"  and  then  the  door  was  opened 
to  me. 

The  promoter  of  happiness  and  longevity  sat 
on  the  edge  of  his  big  cushioned  chair — one  such 
as  lazy  foreign  devils  use — his  arms  resting 
on  the  oilcloth-covered  table  and  his  horn-rimmed 
spectacles  on  the  end  of  his  nose.     At  his  right 

H5 


i46  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

hand  were  his  bamboo  pens  and  India  ink,  his 
abacus  and  his  water  pipe,  while  at  his  left  was 
a  small  lamp,  to  which  he  held  a  book  so  close 
that  one  could  not  be  certain  whether  it  was 
the  lamp  or  the  leaves  that  smoked. 

As  I  entered  he  marked  the  point  of  interrup- 
tion with  his  finger,  raised  his  eyes  and  frowned 
at  me  over  his  spectacles  during  the  time  re- 
quired to  advance  the  three  polite  paces  and 
make  the  three  respectful  salutations,  and  then 
he  resumed  his  reading. 

I  did  not  know  whether  he  was  angry  with 
me  or  perplexed  by  the  text,  so  I  seated  myself 
on  a  teakwood  stool  opposite  him,  and  took 
much  time,  first  in  finding  a  cigar  and  then  in 
lighting  it.  He  continued  to  read  from  "The 
Book  of  Changes"  very  slowly  and  half  aloud, 
the  guiding  finger  of  his  right  hand  pausing  at 
each  character  until  he  had  uttered  it  and  then 
passing  to  the  next.  I  puffed  at  my  cigar  and 
watched  his  head  nodding  rhythmically,  his  chin 
rising  quickly  with  each  line  completed  and  de- 
scending slowly  again  until  I  could  see  only  the 
red  button  of  his  cap  over  the  top  of  the  book. 

When  his  finger  had  passed  over  the  last  char- 
acter of  the  chapter  he  laid  the  book  aside, 
folded  his  fat  hands  over  his  paunch,  lay  back 
in  his  chair  and  stared  at  me  long  and  seriously 
through  his  spectacles.  To  do  this  it  was  nec- 
essary for  him  to  raise  his  chin  so  high  that  the 
rolls  of  fat  beneath  it  seemed  to  slide  around 


THE  FEEL  OF  STEEL  BRACELETS     147 

and   form    a   cushion   at  the  back  of   his   neck. 

I  waited  for  him  to  speak,  watching  him 
meanwhile  out  of  the  corners  of  my  eyes,  and 
when  I  saw  him  reach  for  his  water  pipe  I  knew 
he  was  not  angry,  for  he  never  smoked  when 
he  was  perturbed.  He  had  burned  the  first 
pinch  of  tobacco,  had  blown  the  ash  from  the 
bowl  and  was  refilling  the  pipe  before  he 
spoke. 

uFung  Ching,  what  is  the  cause  of  all  this 
commotion  among  our  countrymen  over  the  for- 
eign devils'  chock  chee?"  he  asked. 

"Sir  scholar,"  I  answered,  "why  do  you,  a 
sage  and  a  prophet,  ask  one  so  ignorant  as  I? 
Why  do  you  not  consult  your  question  sticks?" 

"The  gin  quah  are  but  the  means  employed 
by  me  to  interrogate  the  gods,  who  concern  them- 
selves little  with  the  affairs  of  the  foreign  devils. 
Our  gods  are  not  their  gods.  Still  if  this  chock 
chee  business  concerns  our  people  greatly,  I  have 
no  doubt  that  the  gods  will  look  into  the  mat- 
ter.    Therefore  tell  me  of  it." 

"Very  well,  sir  scholar.  You  remember — for 
often  I  have  heard  you  complain  of  it — that 
the  foreign  devils  made  a  law  requiring  all  of 
our  people  in  this  country  to  get  chock  chees, 
stating  the  age  and  residence  of  each  person, 
and  upon  each  chock  chee  was  placed  a  portrait 
of  the  one  who  received  it,  as  well  as  the  red  seal 
of  the  official  who  gave  it.  After  that  none  of 
our  countrymen,  unless  he  were  a  scholar  or  a 


148  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

merchant,  could  come  here,  and  none  of  those 
here  could  remain  unless  he  had  his  chock  chee." 

"Yes,  that  is  quite  true;  and  it  was  a  very 
wicked  thing  for  the  fan  quai  to  do." 

"Now  a  great  many  of  our  countrymen,  who 
in  truth  are  neither  merchants  nor  scholars, 
wish  to  come  here,  and  the  fan  quai  officials 
have  made  it  very  difficult  for  them  to  prove 
that  they  really  are  merchants  or  scholars." 

"What  a  great  injustice!  How  wicked  to 
deny  that  which  can  be  proven!" 

"And  many  who  have  been  put  to  the  expense 
of  coming  secretly  by  the  northern  or  southern 
borders  of  the  country  are  sent  back  to  the  Mid- 
dle Kingdom,  merely  because  they  have  no  chock 
chees  to  prove  they  were  here  before  the  wicked 
law  was  passed." 

"Then  if  a  person  once  gets  here  and  has  a 
chock  chee  to  show  to  the  officials,  he  cannot 
be  sent  away?" 

"That  is  true,  sir  scholar." 

"What,  then,  does  a  chock  chee  cost?" 

"They  cannot  be  bought." 

"Can  it  be  true  that  the  fan  quai  officials,  who 
get  them  for  nothing,  will  not  sell  them?" 

"That  is  true,  sir  scholar.  If  one  were  caught 
doing  so— and  the  government  is  very  vigilant 
— he  would  be  sent  to  prison." 

"How  is  it  possible  for  officials  to  live  with- 
out squeeze?" 

"They  are  paid  wages,  sir  scholar." 


THE  FEEL  OF  STEEL  BRACELETS  149 

"What  a  foolish  way  to  govern!  Paying 
wages  to  officials  who  could  pay  themselves  out 
of  the  squeeze!" 

Quan  Quock  Ming  arose  heavily  and  with 
much  puffing  and  blowing  searched  in  his  cam- 
phor-wood chest  until  he  found  his  own  chock 
chee.  He  spread  it  on  the  table  before  him, 
smoothed  it  with  his  hands  and  studied  it  in- 
tently, frowning  and  shaking  his  head.  Then  he 
asked: 

"Who  made  this  paper?" 

"Fan  quai  paper  makers,"  I  answered. 

"Who  printed  these  characters  upon  it?" 

"Fan  quai  printers." 

"Who  made  this  seal?" 

"Fan  quai  seal  makers." 

"And  a  fan  quai  clerk  did  this  writing,  and 
a  fan  quai  picture  maker  produced  this  portrait 
of  me.  Now,  if  one  could  get  a  concession  from 
the  government  to  make  and  sell  chock  chees, 
what  price  would  they  command?" 

"Our  countrymen  would  gladly  pay  $100 
each." 

"What  would  such  a  concession  cost,  Fung 
Ching?" 

"It  cannot  be  bought  at  any  price." 

"What!  Is  it  not  possible  to  buy  a  conces- 
sion?" 

"Not  such  a  concession  as  that,  sir  scholar." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  shook  his  head,  clicked 
his  tongue  and  growled: 


ISO  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Hai-cel" 

Then  he  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and  folded 
his  hands  over  his  stomach  in  order  to  think 
with  greater  ease  and  accuracy.  The  fan  quai 
ignorantly  believe  that  intelligence  is  all  in  one's 
head;  my  people  that  it  is  in  one's  stomach.  If 
anyone  would  be  sure  as  to  which  is  right,  let 
him  look  at  Quan  Quock  Ming,  whose  head  is 
scarcely  larger  than  a  rice  bowl,  while  his  stom- 
ach is  the  size  of  a  vegetable  peddler's  basket, 
yet  he  is  the  wisest  man  I  ever  knew. 

"It  is  all  settled,  Fung  Ching,"  said  Quan 
Quock  Ming,  after  a  few  moments  of  deep 
thought.  "We  shall  make  and  sell  chock  chees 
without  a  concession." 

"How  can  that  be  done,  sir  scholar?  Surely 
it  is  impossible!" 

"Nothing  is  impossible,  Fung  Ching,  unless  it 
be  the  task  of  providing  you  with  ordinary  in- 
telligence. Find  a  foreign  devil  to  do  the  print- 
ing, another  to  do  the  writing,  and  another  to 
make  the  seal.  The  portraits  can  be  obtained 
from  any  maker  of  pictures  when  they  are  re- 
quired." 

"But,  sir  scholar,  we  shall  be  sent  to  prison 
if  we  are  caught." 

"Then  we  must  not  be  caught.  Pay  no  money 
to  the  foreign  devils  who  do  the  work,  but 
promise  each  a  share  in  the  profits,  so  that  they 
will  not  afterward  speak  of  the  things  they  have 
done.     Think  of  the  matter,  Fung  Ching,  and  I 


THE  FEEL  OF  STEEL  BRACELETS  151 

will  consult  the  question  sticks  to  learn  what 
lies  in  the  future  for  us." 

I  did  think  much  of  the  matter  during  the 
succeeding  days,  saying  to  myself  again  and 
again: 

"The  expense  will  be  trifling  and  the  profit 
great;  but  the  risk  will  be  considerable  and  the 
penalty  may  be  severe." 

I  weighed  the  certainty  of  profits  that  meant 
luxury  and  ease  against  the  chance  of  prison  with 
mean  fare  and  hard  labor,  and  they  seemed  to 
balance;  and  as  I  was  in  no  urgent  need  of 
money  I  determined  at  last  to  have  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with  the  matter.  When  I  visited 
Quan  Quock  Ming  to  tell  him  of  my  decision  he 
greeted  me  with  unusual  warmth  and  cordiality. 

"I  have  interrogated  the  gods,  Fung  Ching," 
said  he,  "and  it  is  certain  that  we  shall  have 
their  aid  in  this  chock  chee  business.  If  you 
doubt  it,  let  me  tell  your  fortune,"  and  without 
waiting  for  a  word  from  me  he  shook  the  ques- 
tion sticks  about  in  their  urn  until  they  were  well 
mixed  and  ordered  me  to  select  one. 

He  took  it  from  my  hand,  held  it  to  the  light 
and  scrutinized  it  carefully,  mumbling  and  frown- 
ing over  the  mysterious  characters  upon  it,  and 
then  smiled  broadly. 

"Ah!  Here  it  is,  Fung  Ching!"  he  exclaimed. 
"The  good  spirits  will  aid  you  in  any  venture 
you  may  make  that  will  be  of  benefit  to  your 
countrymen,    and    all   will    go   well    with   you — 


152  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

provided  you  are  cautious  and  vigilant.  Wealth, 
happiness  and  great  age  are  assured  you.  Now, 
you  see,  it  is  just  as  I  said." 

I  paid  him  his  usual  fee  of  twenty-five  cents, 
for  he  had  often  explained  that  the  gods  would 
be  angry  if  he  took  no  money  for  sacrifices  in 
exchange  for  their  secrets,  and  then  sat  down 
to  smoke  and  ponder  upon  the  answer  I  should 
give  him.  He  continued  to  urge  me  so  strongly 
and  with  such  positive  assurances  of  success  that 
I  felt  the  glow  of  enthusiasm  and  made  up  my 
mind  to  it;  but  the  moment  he  ceased  speaking 
I  thought  of  the  prison,  felt  the  chill  of  fear  and 
changed  my  mind  again.  But  soon  I  thought 
more  and  more  of  the  profit  and  less  and  less  of 
the  prison,  until  the  one  appeared  very  large 
and  near,  and  the  other  very  small  and  distant; 
and  then  I  consented. 

I  went  from  one  printing  place  to  another  for 
days,  and  sought  long  and  diligently  before  I 
found  one  who  had  such  a  large  family  and  such 
a  small  business  that  he  had  to  do  his  own  work 
and  wear  old  clothing.  I  employed  him  to  print 
a  few  cards  for  me,  and  more  for  friends  of 
mine,  and  then,  as  his  charges  were  reasonable, 
and  I  paid  a  little  out  of  my  own  pocket  on  each 
order,  I  was  able  to  take  him  7so  much  business 
from  Chinatown  that  he  was  forced  to  employ  an 
assistant. 

The  printer  expressed  much  gratitude  and 
friendship,    and   I    did   all   I    could   to   increase 


THE  FEEL  OF  STEEL  BRACELETS     153 

both.  One  day  I  showed  him  my  chock  chee, 
asking  if  he  could  print  some  exactly  like  it. 
He  said  he  could,  and  then  I  told  him  what 
great  profits  could  be  made  if  he  would  do  the 
printing  and  get  others  to  do  the  writing  and 
make  the  seal.  But  he,  too,  was  afraid  of  prison 
and  politely  refused.  After  that  I  took  him  very 
little  business,  and  he  was  forced  to  discharge  his 
assistant;  and  then  I  could  see  that  he  was  think- 
ing of  the  matter  as  I  had.  When  he  himself 
spoke  of  it  again  I  knew  that  he  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  it,  and  we  soon  agreed  that  he  should 
produce  the  chock  chees,  and  I  should  dispose  of 
them,  the  profits  to  be  divided  equally  between 
us. 

It  was  all  done  as  we  planned,  and  I  had  given 
Quan  Quock  Ming  nearly  $2000  as  his  share  of 
the  proceeds,  when  I  went  to  the  printer  one  day 
to  have  the  writing  and  seal  placed  on  a  chock 
chee  I  had  sold.  As  I  entered  his  shop  I  saw  at 
once  that  all  was  not  right,  for  he  was  not  work- 
ing, but  was  sitting  beside  a  stranger,  saying  not 
a  word  and  appearing  ill  and  aged. 

uHello,  Pete!"  exclaimed  the  stranger.  "You 
are  the  one  that  fixed  up  this  scheme,  are  you?" 
and  though  he  wore  no  star  and  had  no  brass 
buttons  on  his  clothing  he  put  bracelets  of  steel 
on  my  wrists  and  ordered  me  to  accompany 
him. 

I  tried  to  get  the  chock  chee  out  of  my  pocket 
to   hide   it   or   destroy   it,    but   the    official    had 


154  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

keen  eyes  and  took  it  from  me.  I  knew  it 
could  do  me  no  good  and  might  do  me  much 
harm  to  say  anything,  so  when  he  asked  me 
questions  I  simply  answered: 

"No  sabe  talk." 

From  the  prison  I  sent  for  the  principal  men 
of  the  clan  of  Fung,  told  them  all  about  the 
matter,  asked  them  to  get  the  advice  and  assist- 
ance of  Quan  Quock  Ming  and  begged  them  to 
procure  my  freedom  as  quickly  as  possible.  And 
from  them  I  learned  how  it  all  had  happened, 
for  Quan  Quock  Ming  explained  it  to  them. 
It  was  this  way:  the  gods  were  angry  with  me 
because  I  had  not  been  more  cautious  in  deal- 
ing with  the  foreign  devils,  and  this  was  their 
manner  of  punishing  me;  nor  could  Quan  Quock 
Ming  help  me  without  incurring  their  displeas- 
ure also.  Nevertheless,  my  clansmen  were  very 
angry  with  him  and  said  many  harsh  things  of 
him. 

"He  is  very  rich,"  said  one,  "but  he  lives  like 
a  Hakka  barber.  He  earns  much  money  by  tell- 
ing fortunes." 

"No;  he  has  always  been  very  poor,"  I  ex- 
plained. "There  was  a  curse  on  his  wife  when 
he  married  her,  and  he  himself  has  had  bad  luck 
ever  since  his  father's  grave  was  stolen  and  the 
bones  disturbed.  Every  cent  that  Quan  Quock 
Ming  has  since  earned  he  has  sacrificed  at  the 
Tien  How  Temple  to  placate  the  gods.  He  has 
told  me  so  many  times." 


THE  FEEL  OF  STEEL  BRACELETS  155 

"We  have  heard  much  of  the  jingle  of  his 
money,  but  we  have  seen  little  of  the  smoke  from 
his  sacrifices,'*  declared  another.  "Now  he  tells 
us  that  he  has  spent  his  share  of  the  profits  from 
this  business  in  offerings  for  your  benefit,  but  I 
do  not  believe  him.  I  am  sure  he  is  a  very  rich 
man." 

"That  cannot  be  true,"  I  answered  heatedly. 
uIf  he  were  wealthy  he  would  either  boast  of 
it  or  display  it.  What  else  would  one  do  with 
his  wealth?  If  one  spends  it  he  is  no  longer 
rich;  if  one  hoards  it  he  merely  increases  his  bur- 
dens." 

"He  would  not  even  give  us  advice,  and  that 
costs  nothing,"  said  another,  "except  to  tell  us 
to  bribe  the  official,  whom  everyone  knows  very 
well  cannot  be  bought.  And  when  I  asked  him 
how  one  could  bribe  an  honest  official  with 
money,  or  how  one  could  bribe  a  dishonest  of- 
ficial  without  money,  he  merely  wagged  his  head, 
looked  wise  and  answered: 

"  'Yes,  that  is  the  question.1  " 

When  I  learned  that  Quan  Quock  Ming  would 
give  me  no  assistance  (I  had  counted  on  his 
share  of  the  profits  to  aid  me),  and  that  the 
official  could  not  be  bribed  (I  had  counted  on 
that,  too),  the  profits  appeared  very  small  and 
distant  and  the  prison  very  large  and  near. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  WHITE  WOMAN  AND  YELLOW  MEN 

Merchants  of  the  family  of  Fung  guaran- 
teed to  the  extent  of  $5000  that  I  would  not  run 
away,  and  I  was  released  from  prison.  I  went 
at  once  to  see  the  lawyer  my  kinsmen  had  bought 
for  me,  to  learn  what  the  witnesses  would  have 
to  say  to  prove  I  was  innocent,  so  that  they  could 
be  promptly  procured  and  properly  instructed. 

"The  officials  will  have  to  prove  you  are 
guilty,"  explained  the  lawyer. 

"But  suppose  they  do  it?"  said  I. 

"Then  you  will  be  sent  to  prison  for  sev- 
eral years." 

"Can  I  not  prove  that  I  am  innocent  after 
they  have  proven  me  guilty?" 

"That  would  be  well  if  it  could  be  done,  but 
the  printer  and  the  men  who  aided  him  have 
told  all  they  know  of  the  matter.  Still,  that 
would  not  be  sufficient  if  the  official  had  not 
found  the  chock  chee  in  your  pocket." 

"Then,  suppose  I  get  witnesses  to  prove  the 
official  himself  placed  it  there?" 

"That  would  not  be  credited,  especially  if  it 
were  told  by  Chinese  witnesses." 

156 


THE  WHITE  WOMAN  157 

"But  I  can  get  many  honest  merchants  to 
swear  they  saw  him  do  it." 

"They  would  not  be  believed  when  he  denied 
it." 

"Not  believe  many  honest  men  rather  than 
one  official !  That  is  very  wicked  and  unjust.  It 
looks  bad  for  me." 

"Yes,  it  does,  indeed." 

The  lawyer  read  to  from  me  the  fan,  quat 
newspapers,  which  had  much  to  say  concerning 
the  forgers  of  chock  chees.  The  official  who 
arrested  me  had  talked  much  to  the  writers  of 
news,  boasting  that  he  had  captured  a  big  gang 
of  desperate  criminals,  that  all  concerned  would 
be  sent  to  the  prison  across  the  bay,  and  that  it 
was  not  possible  for  one  to  escape;  that  the 
printer,  who  had  told  everything  at  once  and 
had  a  large  family,  would  be  given  a  short 
term;  that  the  maker  of  the  seal  and  the  one 
who  did  the  writing  would  be  given  longer 
terms;  and  that  "Little  Pete,"  the  notorious 
highbinder  and  gambler,  would  be  sent  away  for 
as  long  a  term  as  the  law  would  permit,  be- 
cause he  was  the  ringleader.  That  was  very 
certain,  they  said,  because  one  of  the  forged 
chock  chees  had  been  found  in  his  pocket. 

All  of  this  was  very  bad  news  for  me,  so  I 
hurried  to  Quan  Quock  Ming  to  beg  his  advice 
and  assistance. 

"Go  away,  you  fool!"  he  shouted  as  soon  as 
I  entered  his  door.     "Why  do  you  come  here? 


i58  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

Do  you  wish  to  see  me  in  prison,  too?  Go 
away!" 

"Why  are  you  angry  with  me?"  I  asked. 
"What  have  I  done  but  to  follow  your  ad- 
vice?" 

"You  have  been  very  stupid  and  incautious 
and  have  offended  the  gods  greatly,  for  you 
have  thrown  away  an  opportunity  to  do  our 
countrymen  much  good  and  gain  us  great  profit." 

"You  have  shared  in  the  profit,  you  are  in  no 
danger  of  prison,  and  now  you  refuse  even  to 
advise  me." 

"I  can  do  nothing  for  you  except  with  the 
permission  of  the  gods.  I  shall  have  to  make 
propitiatory  offerings  at  the  temple,  and  they 
will  cost  you  $100." 

I  gave  him  the  money  and  went  my  way,  but 
I  called  again  the  very  next  evening  and  asked 
at  once: 

"Now,  sir  scholar,  what  can  be  done  about 
this  chock  chee  business?" 

"Will  the  official  who  arrested  you  accept  a 
present?" 

"No;  and  anyone  who  offers  it  will  be  taken 
to  prison." 

"Then  he  is  a  fool,  and  one  can  do  what  one 
wishes  with  a  fool." 

"What  is  to  be  done  with  him?" 

"Make  him  take  it." 

"But  how  can  such  a  thing  be  done?" 

"Yes,  that   is  the   question.      I   shall  have  to 


THE  WHITE  WOMAN  159 

think,"  and  he  leaned  back  in  his  big  chair  with 
folded  hands  and  rocked  himself  gently  to  and 
fro.  "Has  this  wicked  foreign  de\il  any  wives?" 
he  asked,  after  long  and  deep  reflection. 

"Yes;  I  am  told  that  he  has  one  wife." 

"Does  he  foolishly  keep  a  servant  instead  of 
making  his  wife  do  the  work  of  the  house- 
hold?" 

"He  did  have  a  boy  of  the  family  of  Wong, 
but  he  has  gone  away,  and  the  official  has  asked 
Jue  Wing,  the  interpreter,  to  get  him  an- 
other." 

"Go  at  once,  you  fool,  and  make  arrange- 
ments with  Jue  Wing  to  recommend  one  of  the 
family  of  Fung — one  who  understands  well  the 
language  of  the  fan  quai,  but  do  not  let  the  for- 
eign devil  know  that;  and  one  who  knows  well 
how  to  do  all  that  will  be  required  of  him,  and 
be  sure  to  let  the  foreign  devil  know  that.  Let 
him  demand  a  very  small  wage.  When  he  has 
been  engaged  bring  him  to  me,  and  I  will  in- 
struct him." 

I  lost  no  time  in  finding  one  of  my  clansmen 
who  would  be  glad  to  help  me  out  of  my  trou- 
ble; Jue  Wing  was  very  well  satisfied  with  the 
few  dollars  he  received  for  recommending  the 
boy  to  the  official;  and  the  official  considered 
himself  fortunate  in  finding  one  who  knew  how 
to  do  all  the  work  of  the  household  for  $5  a 
week.  When  I  took  the  boy  to  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  this  is  what  the  prophet  said  to  him: 


160  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Pretend  you  understand  very  little  of  the 
language  of  the  foreign  devils,  but  at  the  same 
time  be  quick  to  comprehend  what  is  required 
of  you.  Be  ever  diligent  and  prompt  in  doing 
all  that  ought  to  be  done  without  waiting  to  be 
directed.  Above  all,  keep  your  eyes  and  your 
ears  open  to  all  that  is  done  and  said  in  the 
household,  forgetting  nothing  that  you  see  or 
hear.  Each  night  when  you  finish  your  work 
come  and  tell  me  everything.*' 

"They  are  very  strange  people,"  said  my  kins- 
man to  Quan  Quock  Ming  a  few  evenings  later. 
"The  foreign  devil's  wife  is  very  young  and 
pretty  and  has  much  fine  apparel,  and  he  shows 
her  as  much  attention  as  one  would  a  favorite 
singing  girl,  instead  of  the  contempt  that  is  due 
a  wife  who  has  not  yet  borne  a  son.  Yesterday 
when  they  were  at  the  evening  meal  she  said  to 
him: 

"  'I  need  some  money.' 

"  'This  is  all  I  have,'  said  he,  and  he  gave 
her  a  few  coins. 

M  'That  is  not  enough.  How  can  I  live  on  so 
little?' 

"  'But  I  give  you  money  to  pay  the  rent,  the 
boy  and  the  tradesmen,  and  you  really  need  very 
little.' 

"  'I  need  money  for  car  fare,  for  clothing,  for 
luncheons  and  for  a  thousand  little  things  when 
I  go  shopping.  Besides,  I  want  to  go  to  the 
theater,  and  I  want  to  entertain  my  friends.' 


THE  WHITE  WOMAN  161 

"  'But  I  earn  very  little,  and  I  spend  nothing 
on  myself.  I  give  all  to  you.  I  have  not  even 
bought  a  suit  of  clothes  since  we  were  mar- 
ried.' 

"  'Then  why  do  you  not  earn  more?' 

"  T  cannot  do  it  honestly.' 

"  'Then  do  it  some  other  way.  I  am  tired  of 
living  like  a  beggar,'  and  then  she  began  to  cry 
and  to  talk  very  loud  and  fast  about  the  things 
that  other  women  do  and  have;  but  he  put  his 
arms  around  her,  called  her  pretty  names  and 
kissed  her  many  times,  instead  of  giving  her 
such  a  thrashing  as  would  teach  a  wife  her 
place. 

"They  do  not  pay  the  tradesmen  as  they  buy, 
but  get  bills  at  the  end  of  each  month,  and  the 
official  examines  them  very  closely.  This  month 
he  did  not  give  her  the  money  with  which  to 
pay  until  other  bills  had  been  sent,  and  then  she 
kept  a  part  of  the  money  back,  spending  it  for 
pretty  things  that  she  did  not  need  in  the  least." 

"That  is  very  good,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming, 
rubbing  his  hands  together  and  smiling.  "Now 
take  a  small  package  of  choice  tea  as  a  present 
to  your  mistress,  and  if  she  seems  pleased  with 
it  give  her  a  bit  of  rare  China  or  a  piece  of  fine 
embroidery  from  time  to  time.  Also  tell  the  of- 
ficial that  the  tradesmen  cheat  him,  and  it  would 
be  much  cheaper  to  pay  cash  for  everything." 

Thus  all  that  occurred  in  the  home  of  the  of- 
ficial was  reported  to  Quan  Quock  Ming,   and 


162  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

in  all  that  my  kinsman  and  I  said  or  did  wc  but 
followed  his  instructions,  though  I  could  not  see 
the  wisdom  in  it.  Once  when  I  asked  him  why 
this  or  that  should  be  done  he  roared  at  me: 

"Because  I  say  so,"  and  I  asked  no  more  ques- 
tions. 

In  time  the  official  gave  his  wife  money  each 
day  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  household,  but 
she  would  often  spend  a  part  of  it  for  other 
things.  Then  my  kinsman  would  pay  for  what 
was  required.  Sometimes  she  would  try  very 
hard  to  save  enough  to  repay  him  without  let- 
ting her  husband  know  of  the  matter,  but  in  the 
end  she  would  spend  what  she  had  saved  for 
some  new  finery,  and  soon  she  owed  him  more 
than  $50. 

One  day  when  she  was  crying  because  she  had 
no  money  the  boy  said  to  her: 

"Wha'  fo'  alle  time  cly?  Takee  fi'  dolla;  go 
hoss  lace,  bet,  ketchee  much  money." 

She  took  the  coin  he  offered,  went  to  the  races 
and  lost,  and  the  very  next  day,  when  she  was 
crying  again,  he  gave  her  $10,  and  that,  too,  was 
lost. 

Then  I  went  to  the  house  to  visit  my  kinsman, 
being  careful  to  select  an  hour  when  the  official 
would  surely  be  out  and  his  wife  would  cer- 
tainly be  in.  At  that  time  I  spoke  the  language 
of  the  fan  quai  very  well,  very  badly,  or  not  at 
all,  as  the  occasion  seemed  to  require.     When  I 


THE  WHITE  WOMAN  163 

was  introduced  to  the  lady  in  the  kitchen  as  a 
rich  cousin  of  her  servant,  I  said  to  her: 

"You  are  very  fortunate,  for  you  are  young 
and  beautiful,  and  you  will  have  a  long  life  and 
much  good  fortune." 

"Are  you  a  fortune  teller?"  she  asked,  laugh- 
ing as  though  she  were  greatly  pleased. 

"I  can  tell  a  little  by  the  face,  but  much  more 
by  the  hand." 

"Then  tell  mine,"  and  she  held  her  hand  out 
to  me. 

I  examined  it  long  and  carefully,  for  it  was 
very  soft,  and  white,  and  warm,  and  then  I 
said: 

"You  are  very  unhappy  now,  but  that  will 
soon  pass  over.  You  have  been  greatly  disap- 
pointed in  many  small  matters,  but  you  will  soon 
have  a  great  deal  of  money  and  many  fine 
friends." 

"I  hope  your  predictions  are  as  true  as  the 
rest  of  it,"  she  said,  seeming  well  pleased,  and 
when  my  kinsman  spoke  of  the  races,  I  said: 

"I  am  so  sure  that  you  are  very  lucky  that  I 
wish  you  would  bet  $20  for  me.  I  will  gladly 
give  you  half  that  you  win." 

She  offered  a  few  mild  objections  at  first,  but 
took  the  money.  When  I  called  again  she  told 
me  she  had  lost  and  was  very  sorry,  but  I  smiled 
and  answered: 

"That  is  nothing.  I  am  certain  you  will  yet 
be  very  lucky,"  and  I  gave  her  another  $20  to 


1 64  THE  NIGHT  TIDE" 

bet  for  me.  When  that,  too,  was  lost,  I  said 
to  her: 

"I  am  so  positive  that  great  good  fortune  at- 
tends you  that  I  will  lend  you  all  you  require, 
for  I  have  much  money.  You  can  repay  it  when 
you  have  recovered  your  losses.  You  must  make 
larger  bets,  doubling  each  time  that  you  lose." 

I  carried  $300  in  gold  the  next  time  I  went  to 
the  official's  house,  and  when  his  wife  saw  me 
spread  it  on  the  table  she  smiled  and  her  eyes 
grew  bright.  Then  she  looked  grave  and  said 
with  much  reluctance  and  hesitation: 

"I  cannot  take  so  much.  I  do  not  know  when 
I  can  repay  it — if  ever.'* 

"I  am  quite  sure  you  will,  and  it  does  not  mat- 
ter if  you  do  not,  for  I  am  very  rich." 

She  hesitated  a  little  longer,  then  picked  up 
the  gold  slowly  and  thoughtfully,  and  when  it 
was  all  in  her  hands  I  offered  her  a  paper  to 
sign.  It  was  a  promise  to  pay  to  me,  Fung 
Ching,  $300  in  gold  whenever  I  should  damand 
it. 

ftI  cannot  sign  this,"  she  said,  and  laid  the 
money  down  again. 

"It  is  merely  a  receipt  and  amounts  to  noth- 
ing. I  may  not  remember  to  put  this  in  my 
books,  and  then  forget  where  the  money  went, 
unless  I  have  some  sort  of  a  paper." 

She  laid  the  writing  on  the  table,  and  with  the 
tip  of  her  finger  between  her  teeth  stood  looking 
at  the  money  and  the  paper  for  a  long  time. 


THE  WHITE  WOMAN  165 

Then  she  turned  and  walked  out  of  the  room — 
but  it  was  to  get  a  pen. 

My  kinsman  told  me  she  lost  it  all  in  two 
days,  but  that  she  did  not  cry  this  time.  Instead 
she  sat  very  still  all  day,  looking  pale  and  ill, 
and  saying  nothing  at  all,  even  when  he  spoke  to 
her. 

I  went  to  the  house  once  more,  and  as  soon  as 
she  saw  me  she  hurried  to  me,  shook  my  hand, 
called  me  her  friend  and  asked  me  if  I  could 
lend  her  a  little  more  money. 

"I  have  come  for  what  you  already  owe  me/' 
I  said,  politely  but  firmly. 

At  first  she  did  not  seem  to  understand  me, 
but  when  I  repeated  my  request  she  caught  her 
breath  quickly,  grew  very  pale,  straightened  her 
shoulders  and  stared  at  me. 

"Very  well,  I  shall  attend  to  the  matter," 
she  said,  uas  soon  as  possible." 

My  kinsman  and  I  left  the  house  at  once,  and 
neither  of  us  ever  went  back. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  was  sitting  in  his  big  chair 
smoking  his  long  pipe  when  I  called,  and  he 
merely  nodded  and  grunted  in  response  to  my 
salutations. 

"Sir  scholar,"  said  I,  "tomorrow  is  the  day 
upon  which  I  am  to  go  before  the  magistrate 
and  his  twelve  assistants  to  answer  concerning 
the  chock  chee  matter.  The  official  is  still  telling 
the  fan  quai  newspapers  that  I  shall  surely  be 


1 66  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

sent  to  prison.  I  have  been  to  see  my  lawyer, 
and  he  says  he  can  tell  me  nothing." 

"I  have  seen  your  lawyer,  too,"  said  Quan 
Quock  Ming. 

"Then  tell  me,  sir  scholar,  what  is  to  be  done 
about  the  matter." 

"Nothing,"  and  he  puffed  his  pipe  as  though 
it  made  no  difference  whatever  to  him  if  I  were 
sent  to  prison.  "All  has  been  done  that  can  be 
done." 

"And  nothing  has  been  done  except  the  spend- 
ing of  my  money.  I  could  have  gone  to  prison 
just  as  well  without  that.  Can  you  think  of 
nothing  that  I  can  do  to  save  myself?" 

"Yes." 

"What?" 

"Wait  and  see  what  the  magistrate  and  his 
twelve  assistants  do,"  and  he  smiled  and  smoked. 

I  left  him  in  anger  without  another  word,  for 
the  thought  suddenly  came  to  me  that  he  had 
tricked  me  so  I  would  go  to  prison  without  tell- 
ing of  his  part  in  the  business. 

The  very  next  day  I  sat  in  court  beside  my 
lawyer,  feeling  so  hopeless  that  I  scarcely  heard 
the  questions  asked  of  the  twelve  who  were  to 
say  whether  or  not  I  was  guilty,  or  the  words  of 
the  printer,  who  related  all  that  had  been  said 
and  done  by  me.  But  I  listened  to  the  official 
when  he  told  of  the  chock  chee  that  had  been 
found  in  my  pocket. 


THE  WHITE  WOMAN  167 

"Where  is  that  paper?"  asked  the  govern- 
ment's lawyer. 

The  official  hesitated  an  instant,  his  face 
growing  red  and  then  white,  and  finally,  looking 
straight  at  the  lawyer,  answered: 

"It  disappeared  from  my  desk  last  night." 

As  soon  as  the  twelve  men  had  said  I  was  not 
guilty  I  went  to  Quan  Quock  Ming's  home  to 
boast  that  I  had  escaped  prison  without  his  as- 
sistance. He  said  nothing,  but  smiled  signifi- 
cantly as  he  handed  me  the  missing  chock  chee. 

"Where  did  you  get  this?"  I  asked  in  amaze- 
ment. 

"A  white  lady  gave  it  to  me  last  night  in  ex- 
change for  her  written  promise  to  pay  you 
$300." 


CHAPTER  III 

the  bait  in  the  trap 

"Fung  Ching!" 

Someone  called  me,  and  I  listened  without 
pausing.  There  are  sixteen  ways  of  speaking 
the  two  words  of  my  name,  and  each  way  has  a 
different  meaning.  When  spoken  properly  they 
mean  uFung,  the  Perfect."  But  the  one  who 
called  uttered  them  in  the  seventeenth  way, 
which  had  no  meaning  whatever,  except  that  the 
speaker  was  an  ignorant  foreign  devil.  So  I  pre- 
tended not  to  hear. 

"Pete!"  he  called  again,  a  little  nearer  and  a 
little  louder,  but  still  behind  me. 

My  friendly  name  among  the  fan  quai  is  "Lit- 
tle Pete,"  but  the  voice  of  that  foreign  devil 
had  no  friendly  sound  to  my  ears,  so  I  continued 
on  my  way  without  changing  my  pace  until  I 
felt  a  grip  on  the  arm  that  made  me  wince  with 
pain  and  a  jerk  that  turned  me  about  so  sharply 
that  I  nearly  lost  my  cap. 

I  found  myself  face  to  face  with  the  official 
who  works  secretly  for  the  government — the  one 
that  promised  to  send  me  to  prison  for  selling 
forged  chock  chees — the  very  same,  yet  very 
different.  Then  he  had  smiled  on  me  with  a 
little  pity,  much  contempt,  and  great  satisfaction. 

168 


THE  BAIT  IN  THE  TRAP         169 

Now  he  glared  at  me  so  fiercely  that  his  thin  pale 
face  had  the  look  of  a  cleaver  that  would  cut  and 
slash,  and  his  deep  dark  eyes  were  like  bullets  that 
were  ready  to  drive  holes  through  me.  As  he 
held  me  by  the  arm,  scowling  and  biting  his  lip 
beard,  I  knew  I  could  not  run  away,  and  I  knew 
it  would  be  useless  to  call  for  help,  so  I  tried  to 
smile  a  little  as  I  said,  very  politely: 

"Hello!     How  bus'ness?" 

In  dealing  with  foreign  devils  I  purposely, 
speak  their  language  imperfectly,  for  it  is  often 
convenient  to  misunderstand  or  to  be  misunder- 
stood. 

The  official  gripped  my  arm  a  little  tighter, 
and  I  was  wondering  whether  he  intended  to 
put  irons  on  my  wrists  or  a  knife  in  my  breast, 
when  he  said: 

"You  knew  I  would  not  take  your  dirty 
money,  so  you  put  up  that  job  to  get  my  wife  to 
take  it.  You  got  away  that  time,  but  I  will  put 
you  in  prison  yet.  Do  you  understand?"  and  he 
gripped  my  arm  tighter  and  shook  it  savagely; 
but  when  I  found  he  had  nothing  worse  than 
threats  for  me  I  was  able  to  smile  again. 

"You  likee  put  me  in  jail?  All  light;  I  go,"  I 
said. 

"Yes;  you  will  go  all  right.  Don't  forget  that. 
And  I  will  put  you  there." 

He  spoke  so  seriously  and  emphatically  that 
I  had  no  doubt  at  all  that  he  was  perfectly  sin- 
cere,  and  as  I  hurried  away  I  decided  at  once 


170  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

I  would  be  very  careful  to  walk  a  long  way 
around  and  step  softly  in  all  my  dealings  with 
foreign  devils,  so  that  he  could  neither  see  nor 
hear  the  fall  of  my  feet.  But  when  I  saw  him, 
within  two  days,  talking  into  the  ear  of  the  Jew 
man  who  dealt  secretly  in  opium  that  had  not 
paid  the  government  tax,  I  was  certain  he  had 
found  some  of  my  footprints  and  was  following 
them. 

It  is  always  well  to  know  as  much  as  possible 
of  matters  that  may  be  important,  so  I  thought  it 
would  be  wise  to  make  more  tracks  and  see  what 
would  be  done  concerning  them.  I  waited  until  the 
official  had  gone  his  way,  and  then  a  little  longer, 
before  I  approached  the  dealer  in  opium. 

"You  ketchee  opium  today  ?"  I  asked. 

uNo  have  got,"  he  replied,  "but  I  get  'im  one 
hour." 

"You  ketchee  ten  cans,  allee  one  box?" 

"Yes,  I  get  'im." 

"All  light;  you  ketch  'im;  I  come  back." 

Now  that  was  a  very  peculiar  way  for  the  Jew 
man  to  do  business.  It  was  his  custom  to  bar- 
gain long  and  sharply,  saying  much  about  the 
price,  the  difficulty  of  getting  even  so  much  as 
one  can  that  had  not  paid  the  tax,  and  the  great 
risk  of  detection  and  imprisonment,  and  telling  it 
all  in  whispers.  Yet  this  time  he  spoke  loudly 
and  quickly,  saying  nothing  at  all  about  the 
price  or  the  trouble  of  getting  ten  cans,  and 
seeming  to  be  in  no  fear  whatever. 


THE  BAIT  IN  THE  TRAP         171 

Upon  leaving  I  watched  the  dealer  through 
the  window  of  his  store  from  the  opposite  side 
of  the  street  and  saw  him  go  to  the  closet  for 
wire  talking;  and  soon  the  official  came  in  a  great 
hurry,  and  went  away  again  even  faster.  And 
in  the  time  it  takes  to  smoke  a  cigar  that  costs 
no  more  than  five  cents  he  returned  with  a  box, 
just  large  enough  to  hold  ten  cans  of  opium. 

I  walked  once  around  the  block,  and  when  I 
returned  the  official  was  standing  in  the  shadow 
of  a  doorway  watching  the  store  of  the  opium 
dealer  so  intently  that  he  did  not  see  me  until  I 
said : 

"Hello!     How  Wness?" 

He  started,  stared  and  frowned,  but  made  no 
answer,  so  I  walked  on  directly  to  the  store. 
The  dealer  told  me  at  once  that  he  had  the 
opium,  but  this  time  he  did  not  take  me  down  to 
the  secret  place  beneath  his  store  to  show  it  to 
me,  and  I  was  careful  not  to  take  it  in  my  hands 
for  an  instant. 

"How  much?"  I  asked. 

"Two  hundred  dollars,*'  he  replied,  without 
once  asking  me  how  much  I  would  pay. 

"That  cheap." 

"Yes;  I  get  'im  cheap." 

When  I  told  him  that  I  did  not  have  the 
money  with  me  he  offered  me  credit,  though 
he  had  always  been  careful  on  other  occasions 
to  demand  payment  down,  and  he  urged  me  to 
take  it  at  once;  but  I  did  not  want  that  opium 


172  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

then,  for  I  knew  I  could  not  carry  it  far  while 
the  official  was  watching. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  was  sitting  very  straight 
in  his  big  carved  chair  of  velvet  and  soft  cush- 
ions— such  a  chair  as  the  wealthier  and  lazier  of 
the  fan  quai  use — and  it  seemed  none  too  large 
for  him.  His  chin  was  high  in  the  air  and  his 
horn-rimmed  spectacles  were  low  on  his  nose, 
which  was  aimed  at  his  three  wives  sewing  in 
the  corner.  From  the  severity  of  his  counte- 
nance and  the  diligence  with  which  they  were 
working  I  knew  they  must  have  idled  during  the 
day  and  had  not  earned  as  much  as  usual  from 
the  shirt  factory  across  the  street.  They  did 
not  raise  their  eyes  from  their  work,  nor  did 
Quan  Quock  Ming  turn  his  gaze  from  them  or 
respond  to  my  salutations.  After  I  had  seated 
myself  and  lighted  a  cigar  he  growled  deep  in 
his  throat: 

"Hai-e-e!  Indolence  is  wicked  and  disgust- 
ing!" 

The  wives  of  Quan  bent  their  heads  lower 
and  sewed  faster.  Then  their  honorable  hus- 
band slowly  filled  his  long  pipe,  throwing  fierce 
glances  at  the  women  from  time  to  time,  lighted 
the  tobacco,  arranged  his  feet  on  a  cushion, 
leaned  far  back  in  his  chair,  folded  his  hands 
over  his  paunch  and  looked  at  me  questioningly. 

"That  is  true,  sir  scholar,"  said  I,  thinking 
of  his  remark  concerning  the  wickedness  of  in- 
dolence. 


THE  BAIT  IN  THE  TRAP         173 

"Did  you  come  here  to  tell  me  that  I  speak 
the  truth,  Fung  Ching?"  he  growled. 

"No,  sir  scholar." 

"Then  perhaps  you  came  to  tell  me  that  I  do 
not  speak  the  truth?" 

"No,  not  that,  sir  scholar.  You  always  speak 
wisely  and  truthfully,  even  concerning  those  things 
that  are  dead  and  buried  in  the  remote  past,  as 
well  as  of  events  that  are  yet  to  occur  in  the  dis- 
tant future.     You  are  a  sage  and  a  prophet." 

"Then,  like  the  foolish  foreign  devil  uttering 
a  prayer  to  Sheung  Tai,  the  One  Great  God,  you 
came  to  tell  me  what  I  already  know." 

"No,  sir  scholar.  I  can  tell  you  nothing  that 
you  do  not  know,  unless  it  be  a  new-born  fact, 
which,  by  mere  chance,  has  not  yet  been  re- 
vealed to  you  by  the  gods.  I  have  tonight  some 
news  that  possibly  you  have  not  heard." 

"Then  speak  of  it  at  once  and  cease  annoy- 
ing me  with  senseless  chatter,  such  as  is  em- 
ployed by  the  lazy  wives  of  an  indulgent  hus- 
band." 

"There  is  a  Jew  man — " 

"A  fan  quai?" 

"Of  a  certainty  he  is  a  foreign  devil.  Is 
there  a  single  Jew  in  the  world  who  is  not?" 

"Of  a  certainty  there  is  a  whole  village  of 
them  among  our  own  people,  and  they  have  lived 
in  the  Middle  Kingdom  since  the  time  of  the  il- 
lustrious Kung-foo-tsze.  They  are  Chinese  in 
every  way,  except  that  they  are  better  bargainers 


i74  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

in  the  markets,  and,  it  is  said,  formerly  wor- 
shiped a  ram's  horn  in  their  temple.  But  what 
of  this  one?" 

Then  I  told  Quan  Quock  Ming  what  the  of- 
ficial had  said  of  the  prison,  and  what  had  been 
done  in  the  matter  of  the  opium,  not  forgetting 
to  mention  the  peculiar  manner  of  the  dealer. 

"I  am  certain  it  is  a  trap  prepared  by  the 
official,  sir  scholar,"  I  said  in  conclusion. 

"It  is  a  trap,  surely,"  he  agreed.  "What  do 
you  purpose  doing  in  the  matter?" 

"I  purpose  to  keep  out  of  it,  sir  scholar." 

"What  marvelous  wisdom  you  display,  Fung 
Ching!     I  propose  that  you  walk  into  it." 

"And  get  caught  like  a  rat?" 

"That  is  true,  Fung  Ching,"  and  Quan  Quock 
Ming  shook  his  head  sadly.  "I  had  forgotten 
that  you  have  less  intelligence  than  a  rat.  It 
knows  how  to  spring  a  trap  and  carry  off  the 
bait." 

"The  opium  is  the  bait,"  I  reflected.  "And 
you  think  I  should  carry  it  away?" 

"Certainly.     It  is  there  awaiting  you." 

"But  you  forget,  sir  scholar,  that  it  is  watched 
by  a  vengeful  official  and  a  shrewd  Jew." 

"That  is  true.  I  had  forgotten — the  Jew. 
You  will  carry  off  the  official's  bait  and  leave  the 
Jew  in  the  trap.  That  will  be  better  still.  Arid 
we  may  as  well  take  a  little  profit  out  of  him  at 
the  same  time.  Yes,  that  will  be  quite  proper," 
and  Quan  Quock  Ming  nodded  his  head  many 


THE  BAIT  IN  THE  TRAP         175 

times,  as  though  it  were  all  settled  except  the 
taking  and  walking  away. 

"How  is  it  possible  to  do  such  a  thing,  sir 
scholar?"  I  asked. 

"I  will  think  for  you,  Fung  Ching,  if  you  will 
act  for  me.  All  that  is  necessary  is  that  you 
have  sufficient  intelligence  to  comprehend  what 
is  said  to  you  and  do  as  you  are  told.  Is  that 
possible?" 

"I  think  so,  sir  scholar." 

"Then  listen  while  I  speak.  Delay  the  mat- 
ter of  purchasing  the  opium  with  whatever  ex- 
cuses you  can  offer,  and  come  here  tomorrow 
evening.  In  the  meantime  I  will  interrogate 
the  gods  with  the  question  sticks  and  learn  how 
our  enterprise  will  prosper.  Then  I  will  tell 
you  how  it  is  to  be  done." 

I  sat  staring  at  Quan  Quock  Ming  stupidly, 
for  I  could  not  think  how  it  would  be  possible. 
He  had  given  me  the  parting  cup  of  tea  (it  was 
seldom  necessary  for  him  to  remind  me  in  this 
polite  way  that  it  was  time  to  take  my  depar- 
ture), and  I  had  drunk  it  and  was  still  staring, 
forgetting  even  to  keep  my  cigar  alight,  when 
he  asked: 

"Will  you  have  another  cup  of  tea,  Fung 
Ching,  or  shall  I  throw  you  downstairs,  as  a  fan 
quai  policeman  would  a  Chinese  gambler?  No? 
Then  walk  your  way  slowly." 

So  I  left  him  watching  his  wives  and  smoking 
his  pipe,  while  they  sewed  and  said  nothing. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   TRAP   IS    SPRUNG 

The  official  was  in  his  doorway  and  the  opium 
dealer  was  in  his  store,  and  both  seemed  greatly 
interested  in  me,  though  I  pretended  that  I  did 
not  see  the  one  and  had  very  little  to  say  to 
the  other.  I  told  the  dealer  I  had  been  too  busy 
to  get  the  money,  and  as  there  was  no  urgency 
about  the  matter  I  would  not  take  the  opium 
for  a  day  or  two. 

Still  he  held  me  by  the  arm  and  stroked  my 
back,  telling  me  many  times  that  I  was  an  hon- 
est man  and  could  take,  not  only  the  opium,  but 
anything  else  I  desired,  paying  for  it  when  it 
was  convenient.  But  I  could  think  of  little  save 
the  official  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street, 
his  revengeful  face,  his  sharp  eyes  and  his 
strong  grip,  and  I  wanted  nothing  so  much  as  to 
get  beyond  the  reach  and  the  sight  of  him. 

When  I  went  to  Quan  Quock  Ming's  home 
that  evening  the  prophet  was  sitting  on  the 
very  edge  of  his  chair  with  his  hands  on  his 
knees  and  shouting  at  his  wives,  who  were  put- 
ting five-tael  cans  of  opium  into  boxes;  and  he 
was  very  red  in  the  face  from  the  exertion  of  it. 
There  were  ten  boxes  and  ten  cans  to  the  box. 

176 


THE  TRAP  IS  SPRUNG  177 

Each  can  was  full,  as  I  knew  by  the  weight  of 
them,  and  not  one  had  paid  the  tax  of  the  gov- 
ernment, as  I  saw  by  the  labels  on  them. 

"Where  did  you  get  so  much  opium,  sir 
scholar?"  I  asked  in  great  surprise,  for  I  had 
never  before  seen  so  much  at  one  time. 

"What  opium,  Fung  Ching?"  and  he  looked 
at  me  over  his  spectacles  as  though  he,  too,  were 
surprised. 

"The  opium  your  women  are  putting  in 
boxes." 

"Where  would  you  say  an  honest  man  got 
it?  Would  you  say  it  was  given  to  him,  or  that 
he  bought  it,  or  found  it,  or  stole  it?" 

"I  cannot  say,  sir  scholar.  What  do  you  in- 
tend doing  with  it?" 

"Fung  Ching,  you  have  forgotten  the  lesson 
I  taught  you  in  the  sampan  in  Hongkong  har- 
bor, when  you  were  whining  like  a  sick  puppy 
over  leaving  your  home.  Did  I  not  pull  your 
ears  and  slap  your  face  to  teach  you  that  you 
should  keep  your  eyes  and  ears  open  and  your 
mouth  closed?" 

"That  is  true,  sir  scholar?" 

"It  is  true  that  you  have  forgotten  the  lesson. 
Now  keep  your  mouth  closed  and  your  ears 
open,  for  it  is  my  intention  to  speak.  Tomor- 
row you  will  go  to  the  dealer  in  opium  and  say 
to  him: 

"  *I  have  one  hundred  five-tael  cans  of  opium 
that  has  not  paid  the  government  tax.' 


178  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"You  will  see,  if  you  remember  to  keep  your 
eyes  open,  that  he  will  open  his  even  wider. 
Then  say  to  him: 

11  *I  must  hide  this  opium  at  once,  for  the 
government  officials  are  very  vigilant  and  may 
find  it.' 

"When  he  opens  his  mouth  wide  and  stares  at 
you,  say  to  him: 

11  'Let  me  put  this  opium  in  the  secret  place 
beneath  your  store.' 

"He  will  frown  and  wink  his  eyes  very  quick- 
ly, seeming  not  to  think  well  of  the  matter,  and 
then  you  must  say: 

11  'We  can  make  a  great  profit  out  of  this, 
for  opium  is  becoming  very  scarce.' 

"Then  he  will  rub  one  ear  and  stroke  his  chin 
while  considering  the  matter.  He  may  offer 
some  objections  at  first,  but  they  will  be  only 
for  the  purpose  of  gaining  time  while  he  is 
thinking  how  he  can  put  you  in  prison  and  get 
the  opium  without  risk  or  expense  to  himself.  It 
is  certain,  however,  that  he  will  tell  you  to 
fetch  it  at  night  and  hide  it  beneath  his  store. 
Do  you  understand,  Fung  Ching?" 

"Yes,  sir  scholar,  but  why  should  we  send 
this  opium  there,  and  how  can  we  ever  get  it 
again?" 

Quan  Quock  Ming  raised  his  hand  as  though 
he  would  strike  me  and  frowned  on  me  long  and 
fiercely.  Then  he  shook  his  head  as  though  in 
great  sorrow  and  said: 


THE  TRAP  IS  SPRUNG  179 

"Fung  Ching,  you  arc  a  great  fool.  It  is  very 
unfortunate.  But  listen.  I  am  about  to  speak 
again.  You  will  come  with  a  light  wagon  at 
night  and  carry  these  boxes  to  the  place  beneath 
the  dealer's  store.     Then  you  will  say  to  him: 

M  'Fetch  the  other  box  which  I  will  buy  from 
you  and  place  it  here.' 

"When  the  eleven  boxes  are  together  you  will 
take  the  tops  from  them  so  he  may  see  there  are 
ten  cans  in  each.     Then  say  to  him: 

"  'I  think  I  hear  someone  moving  about  up- 
stairs.' 

"When  he  has  gone  to  see  about  the  matter, 
quickly  take  one  can  out  of  each  of  these  ten 
boxes,  place  them  in  the  box  he  sold  you,  and 
the  ten  cans  you  take  from  that  box  put  in  the 
place  of  the  ten  you  took  from  these.  Remem- 
ber where  in  these  boxes  you  place  each  can  of 
the  opium  he  sold  you,  so  you  may  find  all  again* 
without  difficulty.  Do  you  understand,  Fung 
Ching?" 

"Yes,  I  am  to  put  ten  cans  of  this  opium  in 
his  box  and  put  his  opium  in  these  boxes  so  I 
can  find  it  again." 

"Your  intelligence  is  increasing,  Fung  Ching. 
Though  I  still  have  to  teach  you  what  to  say, 
as  one  would  a  parrot,  I  no  longer  have  to  show 
you  what  to  do,  as  one  would  a  monkey.  Now, 
when  the  dealer  returns  to  tell  you  that  no  one  is 
about,  say  to  him: 

"  'I   wish  to  test  the  opium  I  have  brought, 


180  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

for  the  one  who  sold  it  is  not  as  honest  as 
you.' 

"He  will  want  to  see  it  tested,  too.  Then 
take  from  these  ten  boxes,  one  at  a  time,  the 
cans  you  bought  from  him,  opening  and  testing 
each.  Be  careful  to  take  everyone  of  the  ten 
cans  the  dealer  sold  you,  for  we  want  no  cheap 
opium.     I  know  what  is  in  these  cans." 

"But  why,  sir  scholar,  should  we  quarrel  with 
the  quality  if  we  are  to  get  it  for  nothing?" 

"Because  you  negotiated  for  first  quality 
opium,  and  it  is  due  you,  Fung  Ching.  You 
would  be  cheated  to  take  any  other,  and  you 
would  lose  your  face  as  a  maker  of  bargains. 
When  you  have  tested  it  all,  you  will  say  to  the 
dealer: 

"  'I  am  satisfied  and  ready  to  go,  but  first 
look  about  very  carefully  to  see  that  no  one  is 
watching.' 

"When  he  goes,  quickly  put  the  ten  cans 
you  have  tested  into  one  box,  replace  the  other 
cans  and  put  the  covers  on  all  the  boxes.  When 
he  returns  to  tell  you  that  no  one  is  watching, 
start  away,  but  pause  and  say  to  him: 

"  'I  am  foolish.  I  forgot  that  I  must  have 
one  box  in  the  morning  early.' 

"Then  take  the  box  of  tested  opium  and 
carry  it  away  with  you." 

"But  you  forget  the  official,  sir  scholar.  He 
will  be  watching  to  take  me  to  prison." 

"I  have  forgotten  nothing,   Fung  Ching.     If 


THE  TRAP  IS  SPRUNG  181 

you  have  any  fear  you  may  look  to  see  if  he  is 
standing  in  the  doorway  before  you  go  with  the 
opium.  But  you  will  not  see  him.  Of  that  I  am 
as  certain  as  I  am  that  you  are  a  great  fool — 
and  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that." 

It  was  just  as  Quan  Quock  Ming  had  said. 
The  dealer  opened  his  eyes  very  wide  when  he 
saw  so  many  cans  and  watched  me  hungrily 
while  I  was  testing  it.  And  I  carried  away  ten 
cans  of  first  quality  opium,  and  the  official  was 
not  there  to  grip  me  by  the  arm,  put  irons  on 
my   wrists   and  take  me  to  prison. 

I  carried  the  box  to  Quan  Quock  Ming's  home, 
but  he  did  not  even  glance  up  from  "The  Book 
of  Odes"  he  was  reading,  and  paused  only  long 
enough  to  say: 

"Put  it  beneath  the  opium  bunk  in  the  small 
room,  Fung  Ching." 

I  did  as  he  ordered  and  sat  down  to  smoke 
until  he  should  finish  his  reading;  but  it  was  the 
long  "Ode  to  King  Seuen  on  the  Occasion  of  a 
Great  Drought,"  and  he  read  very  slowly  to  the 
last  word.     Then  he  asked: 

"What  is  the  quality  of  it,  Fung  Ching?" 

"The  best,  sir  scholar." 

"Then  I  shall  test  it  in  the  pipe  tonight. 
Tomorrow  you  will  return  to  the  dealer  and  say 
to  him: 

"  'I  am  afraid  to  keep  the  opium  hidden  be- 
neath your  store.     Will  you  buy  it?' 

"He  will  bargain,  and  haggle  and  delay,  but 


182  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

he  will  buy.  He  may  not  take  it  all,  but  sell  all 
he  will  take,  making  as  good  a  bargain  as  you 
can — but  sell.  If  he  does  not  buy  it  all  bring 
one  box  away  with  you.  And  be  sure  to  get  your 
money  for  the  opium  you  sell.  Do  not  give 
credit.  If  the  dealer  has  not  so  much  in  his 
store,  wait  until  he  gets  it.  Take  this  can  of 
third  quality  opium  with  you,  and  when  you 
are  in  the  secret  place  beneath  the  store  hide  it, 
but  do  not  let  him  know  of  it." 

"But  you  have  forgotten  that  the  official  will 
be  watching  in  the  daytime,  even  if  he  is  not 
there  at  night,  and  if  I  carry  away  so  much  as  a 
thimbleful  I  will  be  taken  to  prison." 

"Fung  Ching!  I  forget  nothing/'  he  bel- 
lowed.    "Do  as  I  bid  you." 

I  went  the  next  day,  but  slowly  and  fearfully, 
to  bargain  with  the  dealer,  but  when  I  saw  the 
official  watching  from  the  doorway  across  the 
street  my  legs  carried  me  quickly  away.  I  was 
then  convinced  that  Quan  Quock  Ming  had  made 
some  mistake,  so  I  hurried  to  the  place  where 
he  told  fortunes  on  the  street. 

"The  official  is  watching,  sir  scholar." 

"Watching  who — what?" 

"The  store  of  the  opium  dealer.  If  I  carry 
any  away  I  shall  surely  be  arrested.  I  will  not 
do  it." 

"Fung  Ching,  do  as  I  bade  you,"  and  he 
spoke  so  quietly  and  deliberately  that  I  knew 
he  was  very  angry  with  me. 


Tve  got  you  this  time,  Little  Pete,"  said  the  official 183 


THE  TRAP  IS  SPRUNG  183 

"No,  I  shall  not  go  to  prison  for  you." 
uFung  Ching,  I  tell  you  that  the  official  can 
do  nothing.  Go  at  once  and  attend  to  the  mat- 
ter, or  I  shall  know  that  you  are  no  longer  a 
good  friend  of  mine,  but  a  malignant  enemy,  and 
I  shall  call  down  the  curses  of  the  gods  upon 
you." 

I  went  slowly  and  reluctantly  and  with  many 
forebodings,  even  though  Quan  Quock  Ming 
had  been  my  very  best  friend  for  many  years, 
and  was  a  sage  and  a  prophet.  And  as  I  went 
I  weighed  the  risks  I  ran — the  risk  of  years  in 
prison  on  the  one  hand  and  of  Quan  Quock 
Ming's  enmity  on  the  other — and  they  seemed  of 
equal  weight  until  I  threw  his  wisdom  into  the 
scale.     Then  I  said  to  myself: 

"I  shall  have  faith  in  my  friend." 
I  did  not  look  again  to  see  if  the  official  were 
still  there  for  fear  my  faith  would  fly  at  the 
sight  of  him,  and  my  knees  were  weak  and  my 
voice  tremulous  while  I  bargained  for  the  sale 
of  the  opium.  I  am  certain  that  the  mere 
thought  of  the  official  cost  me  at  least  a  dollar 
a  can.  Still,  I  sold  ninety  cans — all  but  one  box 
— for  $19.50  a  can.  I  had  the  money  in  my 
pocket  and  the  box  upon  my  shoulder  and  had 
only  started  up  the  street  when  I  heard: 

"Fung  Ching!"  and  once  more  I  felt  that  grip 
upon  my  arm.  "I've  got  you  this  time,  Little 
Pete,"  said  the  official,  and  he  smiled  in  a  very 
unfriendly  way  when  he  used  my  friendly  name. 


i84  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

When  he  placed  the  irons  on  my  wrists  and 
led  me  to  prison  Quan  Quock  Ming's  friendship 
and  wisdom  seemed  as  nothing  and  my  cell  as 
the  whole  world. 

As  soon  as  my  hing  ti — my  cousins  of  the 
same  family  name — could  give  their  stores  as 
security  that  I  would  not  run  away,  I  was  se: 
free  until  such  time  as  I  should  go  before  the 
magistrate  to  make  my  answer.  Filled  with  an- 
ger I  hurried  to  Quan  Quock  Ming.  He  was 
sitting  behind  his  little  table  on  the  sidewalk 
with  his  hands  tucked  in  his  sleeves,  turning 
his  head  slowly  from  side  to  side  as  he  looked 
first  up  and  then  down  the  street,  calling  as 
usual  for  patronage: 

"Fortunes!  Fortunes!  Good  fortune  for 
all!" 

"I  did  as  you  told  me,"  I  said  angrily,  being 
careful  not  to  mention  that  he  was  a  scholar,  "and 
now  see  what  has  come  of  it!" 

"Fortunes!  Fortunes!  Good  fortune  for 
all!"  he  repeated,  paying  no  attention  whatever 
to  me. 

"Quan  Quock  Ming,  I  was  taken  to  prison  by 
the  official,  and  I  shall  go  for  a  much  longer 
time  unless  something  is  done.  It  is  all  your 
fault.     Now  what  is  to  be  done  about  it?" 

Quan  Quock  Ming  yawned  and  repeated  his 
droning  call : 

"Fortunes !  Fortunes !  Good  fortune  for 
all!" 


THE  TRAP  IS  SPRUNG  185 

"This  is  very  bad  fortune  for  me,  and  it  will 
be  for  you,  too,  Quan  Quock  Ming,"  I  said  as  I 
seized  him  by  the  arm,  "unless  you  help  me." 

"Do  you  want  your  fortune  told?"  he  asked. 

"It  takes  no  prophet  to  tell  me  that  I  am  in 
serious  trouble,  all  because  I  was  foolish  enough 
to  do  as  you  told  me." 

He  ignored  my  words  and  manner  and  shook 
the  question  sticks  in  their  urn  as  he  would  do  for 
any  patron.  Then  he  held  them  out  to  me.  I 
took  one  and  flung  it  on  the  table  before  him. 

"I  know  naught  of  you  and  naught  of  your 
ancestry — "  that  is  what  he  always  said  to  stran- 
gers when  he  told  their  fortunes,  and  he  said  the 
same  to  me,  though  he  knew  more  of  me  than  I 
did  of  myself — "but  this  reveals  all  to  me,"  and 
he  tapped  the  question  stick  with  his  long  finger 
nail  and  smiled  knowingly. 

After  he  had  looked  through  his  spectacles  at 
me  for  a  moment — and  it  seemed  that  he  was 
mocking  me — he  studied  the  mysterious  charac- 
ters on  the  stick  for  a  long  time,  and  then  said: 

"Your  name  is — let  me  see.  What  is  it?  Oh, 
yes,  it  is  Fung  Ching.     Your  father's  name — " 

"Never  mind  that,  fortune-teller,  I  know  what 
my  father's  name  was.  Tell  me,  if  you  can,  what 
I  am  to  do." 

"Your  father's  name  was  Fung  Doo  You.  He 
is  now  dead,  and  that  is  a  great  piece  of  good  for- 
tune for  him,  for  it  would  grieve  him  to  know 
his  son  is  a  fool.     All  fools  are  lucky.     You  are 


1 86  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

very  lucky,  therefore  you  must  be  a  very  great 
fool.     Pay  me  and  walk  your  way." 

"Tell  me  first  what  I  am  to  do,"  I  commanded 
in  a  threatening  tone. 

"Do?  Do  nothing — nothing  except  what  your 
wise  friends  tell  you  to  do.  /  tell  you  to  do 
nothing." 

"You  can  tell  me  much  to  do  when  there  is 
money  to  be  gained  and  risks  to  be  taken,  and 
you  are  always  careful  to  take  half  the  money 
and  none  of  the  risks." 

"Fortunes  I  Fortunes!  Good  fortune  for 
all!" 

I  flung  a  twenty-five-cent  piece  upon  the  table 
and  went  my  way,  not  knowing  what  to  do  but 
reflect  upon  the  gravity  of  my  position.  My 
clansmen  were  angry  with  me  that  I  should  have 
done  all  that  Quan  Quock  Ming  ordered  in  this 
matter  of  the  opium,  after  he  had  once  been  the 
cause  of  my  imprisonment  in  the  chock  chee  busi- 
ness. They  would  do  little  to  help  me  and  he 
would  do  nothing,  but  their  anger  toward  me  was 
as  nothing  compared  to  my  resentment  toward 
him. 

The  very  next  day  I  was  to  go  before  the  lesser 
magistrate,  who  listens  to  the  complaints  of  of- 
ficials, for  him  to  decide  whether  I  should  go 
before  the  higher  magistrate  for  trial,  and  I 
had  not  even  bought  a  lawyer.  The  fan  qua* 
newspapers  had  much  to  say  about  "Little  Pete," 
the  notorious  highbinder  and  gambler,  who  had 


THE  TRAP  IS  SPRUNG  187 

been  caught  with  a  whole  box  of  opium  that  had 
not  paid  the  tax;  and  the  official  had  talked  to 
the  writers  of  news,  saying  that  "Little  Pete"  was 
the  same  man  who  had  sold  forged  chock  chces, 
but  had  escaped  prison;  that  he  had  watched  for 
a  long  time  to  catch  "Little  Pete,"  and  he  could 
not  possibly  escape  this  time,  but  would  surely  be 
sent  to  prison  for  a  long  time. 

I  sat  before  the  magistrate  thinking  many 
things,  but  saying  nothing  at  all,  while  the  of- 
ficial told  how  he  had  learned  I  was  dealing  in 
opium  and  had  taken  ten  cans  to  the  Jew  to  sell 
to  me.  Then  the  dealer  told  how  I  had  bought 
it,  and  both  said  I  had  carried  it  away  on  my 
shoulder.  The  very  same  box  and  the  very  same 
cans  I  had  taken  from  the  dealer's  place  of  busi- 
ness were  brought  in,  and  one  who  understands 
much  about  drugs  held  up  his  hand  and  took  an 
oath. 

"Have  you  seen  what  is  in  these  cans?"  he 
was  asked. 

"I  have,"  he  answered. 

"What  is  it?" 

"Molasses." 

The  official  believed  the  Jew  man  had  tricked 
him,  searched  his  place  of  business  and  found 
the  can  of  third  quality  opium  I  had  hidden  in  the 
secret  place  beneath  the  store.  And  while  the 
Jew  man  lay  in  prison  awaiting  trial,  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  my  very  best  friend,  lay  on  his  bunk  and 
smoked  first-quality  opium. 


CHAPTER  Vi 

THE  SNAKE  IN  THE  GRASS 

Quan  Quock  Ming  had  finished  his  evening 
meal,  his  four  pipes  of  opium  and  his  eight  pinches 
of  tobacco,  and  now  he  was  sleeping,  while  his 
three  wives,  who  never  slept,  were  cleaning  the 
dishes,  the  pots  and  the  kitchen,  so  all  would  be 
in  readiness  when  their  honorable  husband  should 
call  for  another  meal. 

Quan  Quock  Ming's  kitchen  was  very  small, 
and  his  wives,  his  utensils  and  his  furniture  nearly 
filled  it.  Quan  Quock  Ming's  cushioned  chair 
was  very  large,  but  he  more  than  filled  it,  and 
at  that  moment  he  seemed  to  be  holding  himself 
in  it  by  clasping  his  hands  over  his  protruding 
abdomen.  Quan  Quock  Ming's  throat  was  enor- 
mous, but  it  would  not  accommodate  a  single 
large  breath,  and  a  small  one  could  get  through 
only  with  much  effort  and  noise. 

Quan  Quock  Ming's  head  lolled  on  the  back 
of  his  chair,  his  big  horn-rimmed  spectacles  were 
on  his  forehead,  his  knees  were  wide  apart,  and 
his  stockinged  feet  with  soles  pressed  together, 
rested  on  a  carpet-covered  stool. 

Whether  it  was  my  entrance,  his  own  snor- 
ing or  the   clatter  of  tongues   and  pans  in   the 

1 88 


THE  SNAKE  IN  THE  GRASS       189 

kitchen  that  awakened  him  I  cannot  say,  but  he 
stopped  in  the  middle  of  a  snore  to  gasp,  in  the 
middle  of  the  gasp  to  yawn,  and  in  the  middle  of 
the  yawn  to  growl;  as  he  always  did  when  dis- 
turbed: 

"Can  one  never  rest,  even  in  his  home?  One 
may  as  well  be  a  dog  in  the  streets.'' 

I  seated  myself  on  a  teak-wood  stool  and  puffed 
my  cigar  until  he  had  finished  grumbling  and 
yawning  and  was  ready  to  speak  with  me;  and 
that  was  not  until  he  had  shuffled  his  feet  into 
his  slippers,  filled  his  long  pipe  and  puffed  three 
times. 

"What  have  you  heard  and  seen  today,  Fung 
Ching,  that  may  be  of  profit  to  us?"  he  asked. 

"Nothing,  sir  scholar,"  I  answered. 

"Have  you  then  become  deaf  and  blind,  or 
have  you  been  sleeping  all  day  like  a  confirmed 
smoker  of  opium?" 

"No,  sir  scholar.  I  have  been  about  the  stores, 
the  streets,  the  gambling  houses  and  the  lottery 
places,  but  one  hears  little  more  than  old  women's 
gossip — nothing  that  would  profit  us." 

"Surely  you  are  a  fool,  Fung  Ching — as  great 
a  fool  as  Moy  Hung,  the  rag-picker.  He  never 
sees  anything  but  refuse,  and  to  him  a  first  qual- 
ity gem  would  be  but  a  bit  of  glass.  He  once 
gave  away  the  stamp  from  an  old  letter  that  was 
afterward  sold  to  a  foolish  foreign  devil  for 
$150.  I  have  just  said  you  are  a  fool,  and  even 
that   trifling  bit  of  information   is  worth   some- 


i9o  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

thing  to  someone.  How  many  times  must  I  tell 
you  that  every  word  that  is  uttered  and  every- 
thing that  is  done  has  a  value,  providing  one 
can  find  the  person  who  wants  to  know  of  it? 
Let  us  pick  over  the  rags  you  have  gathered  to- 
day and  see  if  there  be  not  something  of  worth 
concealed  among  them.    What  have  you  heard?" 

"Ching  Jung  won  $84  in  the  lottery." 

"That  is  worth  something.  I  told  his  fortune 
this  morning  and  predicted  good  luck.  To- 
morrow I  shall  make  him  pay  double  or  treble 
the  fee  for  another  prediction." 

uJue  Toy's  father  is  dying." 

"That  is  good,  too.  I  shall  advise  Jue  Toy 
to  have  the  priest  Soo-hoo  Hung,  so  that  I  may 
get  a  commission  on  the  burial  fee.     What  else  ?" 

"The  Ning  Yung  Benevolent  Association  has 
decided  to  send  four  old  men  back  to  the  Mid- 
dle Kingdom  on  the  next  steamer,  and  has  set 
aside  $200  to  pay  their  expenses." 

"We  shall  see  what  can  be  done  about  that. 
Anything  else?" 

"Four  young  men  who  were  arrested  last 
month  for  being  in  this  country  unlawfully  are 
to  be  sent  back  to  the  Middle  Kingdom.  The 
officials  of  the  government  so  decided  to- 
day." 

"What  would  they  pay  to  remain  here?" 

"Two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  at  the  very 
least." 

"And  neither  the  government  nor  the  officiak 


THE  SNAKE  IN  THE  GRASS       191 

will  accept  their  money  and  permit  them  to  re- 
mainr 

"No,  sir  scholar;  and  besides  the  government 
must  pay  the  steamship  company  to  carry  them 
back." 

"Then  there  are  four  old  men  who  wish  to 
go,  and  four  young  men  who  wish  to  stay,  and 
money  could  be  obtained  by  arranging  it  so  that 
each  could  do  as  he  wishes?" 

"That  is  true,  sir  scholar,  but  there  is  noth- 
ing to  be  done  about  it." 

"The  government,  then,  will  waste  money  to 
send  men  away  when  it  could  get  money  to  per- 
mit them  to  remain.  What  a  wasteful  govern- 
ment! And  the  officials  will  not  accept  the  money 
secretly,  either  to  save  it  for  the  government  or 
to   profit  themselves.      What   foolish   officials!" 

"You  speak  truly,  sir  scholar;  and  now  you  can 
see  clearly  why  nothing  can  be  done  about  it." 

"On  the  contrary,  Fung  Ching,  I  see  clearly 
that  we  can  do  much.  We  shall  trade  old  men 
for  young  and  make  a  profit  on  both." 

"That  can  never  be  done.  The  young  men 
are  in  prison,  and  they  are  closely  guarded." 

"Then  we  shall  find  a  way  to  get  the  young 
men  out  and  the  old  men  in.  If  neither  the  gov- 
ernment nor  the  officials  will  trade  with  us,  per- 
haps the  jailers  will.  Do  you  know  the  jailers, 
Fung  Ching?" 

"Who  should  know  them  better,  since  I  have 
twice  been  in  prison  on  your  account?" 


1 92  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Not  on  my  account,  Fung  Ching,  but  on  ac- 
count of  your  own  stupidity;  and  even  that  mis- 
fortune may  now  be  used  to  our  advantage.  Will 
the  jailers  accept  presents  and  grant  favors?" 

uThey  do  not  even  put  their  hands  behind 
their  backs,  sir  scholar,  but  extend  them  like  beg- 
gars, and  without  closing  even  one  eye.  For  a 
few  small  coins  they  will  permit  visitors  to  en- 
ter the  prison  at  forbidden  hours  and  carry  in 
opium  to  their  friends,  or  will  take  prisoners 
out  to  places  of  amusement." 

"Then  it  is  all  very  easy.  Go  at  once  to  the 
Ning  Yung  Association  and  make  a  contract  to 
send  each  of  the  four  old  men  back  to  the  Mid- 
dle Kingdom  for  $40.  Then  go  to  the  relatives 
of  the  young  men  and  make  a  contract  to  pro- 
cure their  release  for  $250  each — or  as  much 
more  as  they  will  pay.  Then  go  to  the  jailers 
and  give  them  $80  to  let  the  young  men  out  and 
the  old  men  in.  There  will  be  a  profit  of  nearly 
$1,000  for  us  in  this  one  transaction,  Fung 
Ching,  and  doubtless  we  shall  have  many  more 
when  it  is  known  among  our  people  that  we  are 
able  to  do  this,  for  there  are  many  old  men  who 
wish  to  go,  and  many  young  men  who  wish  to 
stay.     Attend  to  this  at  once." 

All  that  Quan  Quock  Ming  said  seemed  quite 
feasible  and  proper,  and  I  had  started  toward 
the  door  to  do  as  he  advised  when  I  had  a  thought 
that  gave  me  a  cold  painful  feeling  just  above  my 
belt  and  made  my  knees  weaken  under  me.    Then 


THE  SNAKE  IN  THE  GRASS      193 

I  sat  down  very  quickly  and  opened  and  shut 
my  mouth  several  times  without  saying  a  word. 

"What  is  the  matter?"  asked  Quan  Quock 
Ming.     "Are  you  ill?" 

"No,  sir  scholar.  I  was  only  thinking,  and  it 
hurt  my  stomach." 

"What  thought  can  yow  have  that  is  so  weighty 
it  hurts?" 

"This  thing  cannot  be  done,  sir  scholar." 

"It  can  be  done,  and  we  shall  do  it." 

"I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  it,  sir 
scholar." 

"Why  not?" 

I  did  not  answer  at  once,  for  I  still  felt  the 
pain  of  the  thought,  but  finally  asked: 

"What  would  you  do,  sir  scholar,  if  one  of 
your  wives  borrowed  money  and  lost  it  in  gam- 
bling?" 

"I  would  do  my  duty,  Fung  Ching.  Yes,  I 
would  do  my  duty,  no  matter  if  I  esteemed  her 
as  highly  as  one  does  a  younger  sister.  But  what 
has  that  to  do  with  the  matter?" 

"What,  sir  scholar,  would  you  deem  to  be  your 
duty  under  the  circumstances?" 

"I  would  surely  beat  her  for  borrowing  the 
money;  then  I  would  certainly  beat  her  again 
for  gambling;  and  I  would,  without  doubt,  beat 
her  once  more  for  losing.  Upon  reflection,  I 
would,  in  all  probability,  give  her  yet  another 
beating  to  teach  her  that  I  am  master  of  my  own 
household." 


i94  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"But  you  would  not  seek  to  injure  the  man 
who  had  lent  her  the  money?" 

"No;  I  might  try  to  borrow  more  from  him,  or 
have  her  do  it  for  me,  if  I  should  need  it.  But 
what  has  this  to  do  with  our  business?" 

"Nor  would  you  consider  that  the  lender  has 
done  you  an  injury?" 

"No;  I  should  consider  that  he  had  done  me 
a  favor  in  showing  me  my  wife's  folly  and  his  own 
generosity.    Why  are  you  speaking  so  foolishly?" 

"The  foreign  devils  are  peculiar.  They  are 
like  the  married  snakes  of  the  Middle  Kingdom 
that  go  in  pairs,  and  if  a  person  so  much  as 
touches  one  its  mate  will  follow  him  until  it  kills 
him.  The  official  who  works  secretly  for  the 
government  is  well  named  by  our  countrymen,  for 
they  call  him  'the  Snake  in  the  Grass.'  He  thinks 
I  did  his  wife  an  injury  when  I  lent  her  money  to 
bet  on  the  races,  and  threatened  to  complain 
to  a  magistrate  about  her  failure  to  repay  me 
unless  he  ceased  prosecuting  me.  He  has  since 
promised  many  times  to  send  me  to  prison  for  a 
long  time,  and  I  do  not  want  to  go.  He  is  in 
Chinatown  day  and  night,  sir  scholar,  and  is 
watching  me  constantly." 

"But  what  has  that  to  do  with  this  matter?" 

"He  is  the  official  who  arrested  the  four  young 
men,  and  he  will  see  that  they  are  sent  away. 
If  we  should  attempt  to  trade  the  old  men  for 
them  he  will  surely  know  of  it  and  send  me  to 
prison.     I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  it." 


THE  SNAKE  IN  THE  GRASS      195 

"Have  you  not  yet  learned  that  there  is  no 
reason  to  fear  him?  Twice  he  has  placed  irons 
on  your  wrists,  and  twice  he  has  failed  to  keep 
them  there.  He  will  fail  again.  Be  cautious 
when  you  deal  with  the  jailers,  and  he  will  know 
nothing  of  it.     Go,  now,  and  do  as  I  bade  you." 

His  imperative  tone  showed  me  that  further 
discussion  would  be  useless  if  not  impossible,  sq 
I  went,  but  slowly  and  reluctantly,  thinking  now 
of  Quan  Quock  Ming,  the  sage  and  prophet,  who 
had  always  been  my  very  best  friend,  and  then 
of  the  Snake  in  the  Grass,  the  shrewd  and  venge- 
ful official,  who  had  long  been  my  very  worst 
enemy.     And  to  myself  I  said: 

"I  will  do  as  my  friend  commands,  but  surely 
someone  who  is  necessary  to  the  success  of  his 
plan  will  refuse  to  act,  and  that  will  be  the  end 
of  it" 

But  the  secretary  of  the  Ning  Yung  Association 
was  glad  to  be  relieved  of  the  care  of  the  old 
men,  and  earn  a  small  fee,  the  relatives  of  the 
prisoners  were  willing  to  pay  any  reasonable  sum 
to  procure  their  release,  and  the  jailers  were 
eager  to  engage  in  anything  that  would  profit 
them. 

"It  will  be  necessary  to  arrange  matters  with 
the  assistant  of  the  Snake  in  the  Grass,"  they 
explained.  "He  takes  the  prisoners  to  the  wharf 
and  places  them  on  the  ship.  We  will  see  him 
about  it." 

I  hoped  he  would  not  consent,  but  within  two 


i96  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

days  I  was  told  that  he  would  permit  the  ex- 
change for  $20  a  man.  I  raised  the  price  on  the 
young  men  to  $300  each,  hoping  their  relatives 
would  refuse  to  pay  it;  but  they  readily  agreed, 
and  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  carry  out  our 
plans. 

The  night  before  the  steamer's  departure  the 
assistant  took  the  young  men  from  prison,  placed 
them  in  a  closed  carriage  and  had  them  driven  to 
a  dark  corner,  and  there  let  them  out,  taking 
in  the  four  old  men  who  had  been  waiting  with 
me;  and  the  next  day  they  were  on  their  way 
to  the  Middle  Kingdom. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  and  I  were  greatly  pleased 
with  so  large  a  profit  so  easily  earned,  but  what 
pleased  us  much  more  was  the  thought  that  we 
had  outwitted  the  Snake  in  the  Grass,  whom  I 
saw  every  day  walking  quickly  on  the  streets, 
and  every  night  lurking  in  the  shadows,  but  al- 
ways following  me  with  vindictive  eyes. 

Soon  afterward  two  more  young  men  were  in 
prison  waiting  to  be  sent  away,  and  when  I  found 
two  old  men  willing  to  go  I  went  to  the  prison  to 
make  the  arrangements  with  the  jailers. 

"Nothing  doing,  Pete" — they  said.  "Some- 
one has  been  whispering  to  the  Snake  in  the  Grass, 
and  he  has  been  asking  questions.  Wc  denietl 
everything,  but  he  is  watching,  and  we  can  do 
nothing." 


CHAPTER  VI 

THROWING  »UST  IN  THE  SNAKE'S  EYES 

It  is  quite  true  that  Quan  Quock  Ming  earned 
much  money  by  the  telling  of  fortunes  upon  the 
street  corner  and  the  giving  of  advice  at  his  home, 
but  each  day's  earnings  could  be  counted  easily 
upon  the  fingers.  It  is  also  true  that  he  had  come 
by  much  more  money  through  business  ventures 
that  required  no  more  capital  than  his  great  wis- 
dom and  gift  of  prophecy;  and  I  have  no  doubt 
at  all  that  every  cent  that  came  into  his  hands 
beyond  what  was  required  for  the  frugal  main- 
tenance of  his  household  was  sacrificed  to  the 
gods  at  the  Tien  How  Temple,  for  he  often  told 
me  that  was  the  truth  of  it.  Therefore  I  could 
never  understand  why  he  should  require  the  abacus 
that  always  ray  on  the  table  at  his  right  hand. 

When  I  went  to  Quan  Quock  Ming's  home  late 
in  the  evening  to  tell  him  what  I  had  heard  I 
was  in  great  haste  and  entered  abruptly,  though 
with  little  commotion.  He  was  squatting  on  the 
floor  before  his  camphor-wood  chest,  flicking  the 
counters  of  the  abacus  to  and  fro  and  mumbling 
sums  as  he  counted  them.  He  did  not  hear  me 
when  I  opened  the  door,  but  as  soon  as  my  foot- 
steps sounded  on  the  floor  within  he  sprang  *p, 
slammed  the  Kd  of  the  chest  and  shouted: 

197 


198  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"I'm  a  poor  man!    I  have  nothing!" 

Then  as  he  recognized  me  he  looked  at  me 
long  and  sharply  while  he  panted  for  breath,  and 
finally  found  enough  to  ask  in  a  severe  tone : 

"Fung  Ching,  why  do  you  come  into  my  home 
stealthily  and  like  a  thief?" 

"I  came  as  I  usually  do,  sir  scholar,"  I  an- 
swered, "except  that  I  came  more  hurriedly  and 
more  noisily,  but  you  did  not  hear  me;  and  you 
forgot  to  lock  the  door.  I  wanted  to  speak  with 
you  concerning  the  matter  of  trading  old  men 
for  young.     I  have — " 

"Yes,  Fung  Ching,"  he  interrupted,  "I  was  just 
making  some  calculations  concerning  the  profit  of 
that  enterprise  when  you  disturbed  me.    I  find — " 

"There  is  no  need  of  making  any  further  cal- 
culations, sir  scholar.     It  is — " 

"Fung  Ching,  I  was  making  calculations  when 
you  disturbed  me  by  entering  so  unceremoniously, 
and  I  was  telling  you  that  when  you  interrupted 
me  again  quite  rudely.  Now  do  not  be  so  im- 
polite as  to  repeat  your  offense.  I  find  that  if 
we  trade  six  old  men  for  six  young  men  in  each 
month  we  will  make  $1800,  to  say  nothing  of 
trading  old  women  for  young  girls,  where  the 
profit  is  much  greater.  This  is  even  more  profit- 
able than  our  enterprise  of  making  certificates  for 
our  countrymen  who  slipped  across  the  unguarded 
borders,  and  that  would  have  brought  wealth  to 
you  and  satisfaction  to  the  gods  if  you  had  not 
been  so  incautious  as  to  let  the  Snake  in  the  Grass 


DUST  IN  THE  SNAKE'S  EYES       199 

catch  you.  Let  him  now  arrest  as  many  as  he 
pleases,  and  let  the  magistrate  order  all  to  be 
sent  back  to  the  Middle  Kingdom.  We  have 
but  to  find  old  persons  to  trade.  Perhaps  some 
day  I  may  return,  and  you  can  trade  me  for  a 
young  man." 

"To  fulfill  the  oath  of  the  chicken's  head  and 
see  that  your  father's  bones  are  properly  in- 
terred?" I  asked. 

"Hai-ie!" 

He  seized  a  stool,  and  I  thought  he  intended 
to  strike  me  with  it.  His  face  grew  red  and  then 
pale  while  he  stood  glaring  at  me.  Then  he  sank 
down  into  a  chair  and  seemed  to  breathe  with 
great  difficulty. 

"I  have  not  the  means.  I  am  still  a  very  poor 
man."     He  was  almost  whimpering. 

"Now  may  I  speak,  sir  scholar?"  I  asked  when 
he  had  composed  himself. 

"Yes — but  not  of  that." 

"Very  well.  We  shall  make  no  more  profit, 
and  we  may  lose  what  we  have  already  earned, 
for  someone  has  whispered  to  the  Snake  in  the 
Grass  about  our  business,  and  he  will  interfere 
again.     I  will  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  it." 

"What  has  he  found  out?" 

"Nothing  to  a  certainty,  but  he  suspects  a  great 
deal,  is  asking  many  questions  and  is  watching 
me  even  more  closely.  The  young  and  the  old 
may  go  where  they  please,  but  I  am  not  going 
to  prison." 


200  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"You  are  a  great  coward,  Fung  Ching." 

"It  is  easy  for  you  to  say  that,  sir  scholar,  so 
long  as  you  sit  here  and  advise  and  count  the 
profits,  but  take  no  risks.  You  do  not  know  the 
feel  of  irons  on  the  wrists  and  steel  bars  about 
you.  I  do.  You  know  very  well  that  I  have  had 
a  price  put  on  my  head  many  times  in  the  tong 
wars,  and  you  know  that  shots  have  been  fired 
at  me  by  fighting  men  who  would  earn  the  re- 
wards, and  you  know  they  did  not  frighten  me. 
But  there  is  one  thing  I  am  afraid  of,  and  that 
one  thing  is  prison.  It  is  bad  enough  to  be  locked 
up  for  a  few  hours;  it  would  be  much  worse  to 
be  imprisoned  for  many  years;  and  it  would  be. 
very  much  worse  to  be  sent  to  jail  by  the  Snake 
in  the  Grass.  He  is  not  watching  you  as  he  is 
me,  or  you  would  be  fearful  too." 

"Listen  to  my  words,  Fung  Ching.  You  are 
in  no  danger.  While  the  Snake  in  the  Grass  is 
watching  you  he  can  see  no  one  else ;  and  you  say 
he  is  watching  you  constantly.     Is  that  not  true?'* 

"Yes,  sir  scholar." 

"You  do  not  know  what  my  wives  are  doing 
in  the  next  room,  do  you,  Fung  Ching?" 

"No,  sir  scholar." 

"That  is  because  you  are  looking  at  me  and 
not  at  them.  While  the  Snake  in  the  Grass  is 
watching  you  he  is  not  watching  the  old  men  or 
the  young  men.  Well,  we  shall  permit  him  to 
watch  you,  and  we  shall  then  make  the  trade. 
Listen,  and  do  not  fail  to  do  as  I  tell  you." 


DUST  IN  THE  SNAKE'S  EYES       20  r 

I  listened  respectfully,  for  Quan  Quock  Ming 
is  a  sage,  and  then  I  obeyed  him,  for  he  is  my 
friend. 

"I  am  taking  great  chances,  Pete,  in  speak- 
ing to  you  at  all,"  said  the  assistant  of  the  Snake 
in  the  Grass,  "for  if  I  were  seen  I  would  lose  my 
position.  We  went  into  this  together,  and  I  do 
not  want  to  see  you  caught." 

"You  are  afraid  that  if  I  am  caught  I  will  tell 
of  your  part  in  it,"  said  I.  "You  need  not  be. 
The  Chinese  never  talk.  If  I  am  caught  I  shall 
have  to  go  to  prison,  I  suppose,  but  I  will  take 
no  one  else  with  me." 

"Look  out  for  yourself.  The  boss  is  laying 
a  trap  for  you.  He  has  questioned  me  closely  and 
he  has  told  me  that  if  any  one  tries  to  substitute 
old  men  for  the  prisoners  on  the  next  trip  to  the 
wharf,  not  to  offer  any  objections,  but  to  watch 
everything  that  is  done.  It  is  certain  that  he  will 
be  following  the  carriage,  and  as  soon  as  the  pris- 
oners are  let  but  he  will  arrest  them  and  you  too." 

The  next  night  I  saw  the  carriage  leave  the 
prison  with  the  two  young  men  inside  with  the 
assistant,  and  I  saw  it  come  slowly  down  the 
dark  street  on  the  way  to  the  wharf.  And  I 
saw,  too,  that  the  Snake  in  the  Grass  was  follow- 
ing stealthily  on  the  other  side  of  the  street,  keep- 
ing close  to  the  buildings  where  the  shadows 
are  darkest,  but  I  pretended  not  to  see  him,  even 
when  I  knew  he  was  watching  me. 

When  the  carriage  came  nearly  opposite  to  me 


202  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

I  walked  out  with  two  old  men  and  signaled  for 
the  driver  to  stop,  and  then  went  around  to 
the  door  that  was  in  view  of  the  Snake  in  the 
Grass.  From  the  corner  of  my  eye  I  say  that  he 
had  come  closer  and  was  watching  me  from  a 
dark  doorway,  but  he  did  not  see  the  two  young 
men  get  out  of  the  carriage  on  the  farther  side 
and  slip  around  the  corner  while  two  more  old 
men  who  had  been  waiting  in  the  shadows  got 
in.  After  conversing  with  them  for  a  moment, 
I,  with  the  two  old  men  who  had  accompanied 
me,  turned  and  walked  away,  and  the  carriage 
was  driven  on  toward  the  wharf  with  the  Snake 
in  the  Grass  following. 

This  is  what  was  said  at  the  steamer's  side, 
as  the  assistant  told  it  to  me: 

"He  must  have  been  warned,"  said  the  Snake 
in  the  Grass.     "Did  you  do  it?" 

"I  know  nothing  about  the  matter,"  replied  the 
assistant.  "I  did  only  as  you  ordered.  It  is  your 
business." 

"Well,  can  you  explain  why  the  substitution 
was  not  made?" 

"It  was;  and  while  you  were  standing  watching 
it.    I  supposed  you  knew  what  you  were  doing." 

The  Snake  in  the  Grass  looked  into  the  car- 
riage and  saw  it  was  true.  He  swore  a  great  deal 
at  first,  then  searched  Chinatown  for  the  two 
men,  and  when  he  could  not  find  them  told  his 
assistant  to  say  nothing  of  the  matter.  And  the 
two  old  men  went  back  to  the  Middle  Kingdom. 


CHAPTER  VII 


Quan  Quock  Ming  and  I  were  still  laughing 
over  the  success  of  our  plans  when  a  clansman 
of  mine  entered  hurriedly. 

"I  am  in  great  trouble,"  he  said,  "and  I  beg 
your  assistance.  I  came  to  this  country  when  I 
was  a  child,  and  in  order  that  I  might  always 
go  and  come  freely  my  kinsmen  proved  that  I  was 
Born  here.  Three  times  I  have  returned  to  the 
Middle  Kingdom,  and  three  times  I  have  brought 
back  a  wife.  The  first  two  I  sold  for  slaves  at 
a  great  profit,  but  the  magistrate  has  wickedly 
decided  that  the  third  is  not  really  my  wife, 
though  I  paid  $200  gold  for  her  in  Canton,  and 
he  has  ordered  that  she  be  sent  back,  though  I 
have  been  put  to  an  expense  of  $650  in  bringing 
her  here,  and  she  is  now  worth  $2300. 

"Now  I  have  been  told  that  you,  cousin,  and 
you,  sir  scholar,  can  adjust  such  matters.  I  will 
pay  $1000  and  procure  an  old  woman  to  return 
in  her  place  if  you  can  arrange  it." 

"Cousin,  that  cannot  be  done,"  said  I. 

"It  can  be  done,  and  we  will  do  it,"  declared 
Quan  Quock  Ming,  "but  you  must  pay  $1250." 

"Sir  scholar,"  said  I,  disregarding  his  frowns, 
203 


2o4  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"the  Snake  in  the  Grass  cannot  be  deceived  again 
by  the  same  trick." 

"Then  we  shall  think  of  a  new  one.  What 
right  has  he  to  interfere  in  my  business  merely 
because  he  wants  to  send  you  to  prison?  Hai-e-e! 
He  is  very  wicked.    Will  you  pay  $1250?" 

"It  is  a  very  large  sum,  but  I  will  pay  it." 

"It  is  not  possible,  sir  scholar,  to  do  this,"  I 
declared. 

"Do  as  I  bid  you  and  say  no  more  about  it,"  or- 
dered Quan  Quock  Ming. 

A  high  official  of  the  government  was  here  in- 
vestigating the  going  and  coming  of  my  country- 
men and  their  dealings  with  other  officials,  and 
acting  under  Quan  Quock  Ming's  instructions  I 
went  to  him  and  told  him  that  the  Snake  in  the 
Grass  had  traded  young  men  for  old  and  was 
doubtless  making  a  fine  profit  from  it.  And  the 
assistant  confirmed  what  I  had  told,  saying  that 
he  had  had  no  part  in  it  except  to  follow  the  or- 
ders given  him  by  his  superior. 

"You  must  help  me  trap  him,"  said  the  official. 
"Make  an  exchange  and  give  him  marked  coin." 
And  then  to  the  assistant  he  said:  "Follow  the 
instructions  you  receive,  and  you  may  have  a 
chance  for  promotion." 

I  was  certain  that  the  Snake  in  the  Grass  would 
take  no  money  from  me,  and  would  arrest  me  if 
I  offered  it,  but  I  did  not  tell  the  official  that. 

"It  will  be  very  easy,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"It  is  surely  impossible,"  said  I. 


THE  OLD  WOMAN'S  BRIBE       205 

"Then  we  shall  do  that  which  is  impossible." 
The  Snake  in  the  Grass  saw  the  carriage  leave 
the  prison  with  his  assistant  and  the  girl  inside; 
he  followed,  eager,  alert  and  soft-footed  as  a 
tiger  cat  stalking  a  hare.  He  saw  the  carriage 
stop  at  a  dark  corner,  and  he  saw  the  girl  leave  it 
and  an  old  woman  take  her  place ;  but  he  did  not 
see  what  his  eager  eyes  sought  most  hungrily — 
Little  Pete.  He  hurried  forward  and  seized 
the  girl,  and  as  he  approached  the  carriage  the 
old  woman  inside  handed  him  an  envelope.  He 
opened  it  and  found  some  paper  money  that  had 
been  marked  by  the  higher  official,  and  a  letter 
that  he  read  by  the  light  of  a  match.  This  is 
what  was  written: 

The  rest  of  the  money  will  be  paid  by 
me  at  the  wharf. 

Little  Pete. 

"Smith,  you  look  after  this  girl  and  then  come 
to  the  wharf,"  he  ordered,  and  he  took  the  as- 
sistant's place  in  the  carriage. 

He  said  not  a  word  but  smiled  often  during  the 
drive,  and  when  the  carriage  stopped  he  peered 
out  cautiously  this  way  and  that,  but  he  did  not 
see  Little  Pete.  He  saw  the  higher  official 
walking  quickly  toward  the  carriage.  The  Snake 
in  the  Grass  stepped  out  to  greet  him,  but  before 
he  could  say  one  word  the  official  brushed  by  him, 
looked  into  the  vehicle  and  then  placed  a  hand 
upon  his  shoulder,  saying: 


206  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"You  are  under  arrest." 

"What  for?" 

"You  know  well  enough  without  asking  any 
questions.  You  took  a  girl  from  the  prison  and 
this  is  an  old  woman.  I  shall  have  to  search 
you." 

When  the  official  had  found  the  money  and 
read  the  letter  he  asked: 

"What  explanation  have  you  to  make  concern- 
ing this?" 

"I  was  laying  a  trap  for  Little  Pete." 

"I  suppose  you  were  also  laying  a  trap  for  Lit- 
tle Pete  when  you  made  that  substitution  on  the 
'ast  steamer?" 

"Yes,  but  he  got  away  from  me." 

"I  have  found  nothing  concerning  that  trans- 
action in  your  reports,  and  you  know  I  am  in- 
vestigating this  business.  How  do  you  explain 
that  fact?" 

"I  have  already  told  you  that  I  was  trying  to 
trap  Little  Pete,  and  I  had  personal  reasons  for 
wanting  to  do  it  alone.  When  it  was  accom- 
plished the  results  would  have  been  reported. 
Here  is  Smith — "  the  assistant  had  just  come 
up—  "he  knows  what  I  was  doing." 

"All  I  know  about  it,"  declared  the  assistant, 
"is  that  you  told  me  not  to  interfere  in  any  sub- 
stitution, and  afterward  ordered  me  not  to  say 
anything  about  it." 

"If  you  were  trying,  as  you  say,  to  trap  Little 
Pete,  why  did  you  not  arrest  him  when  he  gave 


THE  OLD  WOMAN'S  BRIBE       207 

you  this  money  that  I  marked  and  gave  to  him?" 

"He  did  not  give  it  to  me.  That  was  given 
to  me  by  the  woman  in  the  carriage.  Smith  saw 
her.  I  intended  to  arrest  him  when  he  gave 
me  the  balance  as  he  promised  in  the  letter." 

"Where  is  the  girl  that  was  in  prison?" 

"I  told  Smith  to  take  her  into  custody,  as  I 
wanted  her  for  a  witness." 

"You  gave  me  no  such  orders,"  declared  the 
assistant.  "You  told  me  to  look  after  her  and 
come  here.     I  delivered  her  to  her  friends." 

"You  know  who  gave  me  that  envelope.  Tell 
him." 

"I  saw  Little  Pete  give  it  to  you." 

"That  is  a  damnable  lie!"  shouted  the  Snake 
in  the  Grass.    "This  is  a  conspiracy  to  ruin  me!" 

The  higher  official  turned  to  the  carriage,  but 
it  was  empty.     The  old  woman  had  disappeared. 

"Where  is  Little  Pete?"  cried  the  Snake  in 
the  Grass.  "Where  is  he?  He  may  tell  the 
truth,"  and  he  looked  about  him  like  a  rat  in  a 
corner. 

"Yes,  I  will  tell  the  truth,"  said  I,  stepping 
from  behind  the  carriage. 

"Did  you  give  me  that  money  and  that  let- 
ter?" 

I  looked  straight  into  his  white  face  and  staring 
eyes  as  I  answered:  "Yes." 

"You  lie!"  he  screamed,  and  he  snatched  a 
revolver  from  his  pocket. 


208  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

The  others  sprang  upon  him,  and  as  I  fled  I 
heard  a  struggle  and  then  a  shot. 

The  ignorant  foreign  devils  said  his  suicide 
was  a  confession  of  guilt,  but  my  people  know 
that  when  a  man  takes  his  life  it  is  proof  of  his 
innocence.  Thus  the  truth  is  often  misunder- 
stood. He  said  I  lied  when  I  told  of  the  payment 
of  the  money,  but  he  would  have  known  it  was 
the  truth  if  he  had  found  the  clothing  in  the  car- 
riage— for  I  was  the  old  woman  who  rode  with 
him. 


BOOK   IV 

THE  DAUGHTERS  OF  QUAN 
CHAPTER  I 

A  LITTLE  FOREIGN  DEVIL 

When  Fong  Fah  bore  her  honorable  husband 
a  daughter  the  face  of  the  sage  was  not  com- 
pletely lost,  but  a  cloud  of  disappointment  shaded 
it  darkly. 

When  Suey  Sum,  the  slave  girl,  had  been 
bought,  delivered  and  installed  in  the  home  of 
the  prophet  as  a  secondary  wife  the  glow  of  a 
new  hope  drove  the  shadows  away. 

"Now  I  shall  have  a  son  to  preserve  my  mem- 
ory and  worship  his  ancestors,'*  said  Quan  Quock 
Ming.  - 

uAih-yah !"  wailed  Suey  Sum.  "Never  to  have 
my  freedom !   Never  to  see  my  mother  again I" 

"As  I  have  borne  my  husband  only  a  daughter 
I  can  expect  nothing  else,"  thought  Fong  Fah, 
and  she  went  about  the  preparation  of  the  evening 
meal,  pausing  only  to  touch  Suey  Sum  lightly  on 
the  shoulder  and  whisper: 

"Sh-h-h !    Do  not  cry,  younger  sister." 

The  gentleness  of  Fong  Fah  and  the  cooing  of 
209 


2io  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

her  baby  checked  the  first  great  flood  of  Suey 
Sum's  grief,  and  the  affairs  of  the  household  pro- 
ceeded peacefully  and  harmoniously.  Quan  Quock 
Ming  devoted  the  days  to  instructing  me  in  the 
classics,  telling  fortunes  and  giving  advice.  Suey 
Sum  slept  away  the  mornings,,  yawned  and 
stretched  for  half  an  hour  and  then  dressed  her 
hair,  painted  her  face  and  clothed  herself  in  fine 
apparel.  The  afternoons  she  idled  away,  chat- 
ting with  Fong  Fah,  playing  with  the  baby,  nib- 
bling at  preserved  fruits  and  smoking  cigarettes. 
In  the  evenings  she  entertained  Quan  Quock 
Ming  with  odes  and  ballads,  accompanying  her- 
self on  the  yung  kum,  while  he  smoked  his  opium, 
and  then  sat  quite  still  beside  his  couch  while  he 
dozed. 

All  day  long  Fong  Fah  attended  to  the  duties 
of  the  household  and  sewed  for  the  factory  across 
the  street,  patiently  and  diligently,  never  asking 
help  from  Suey  Sum  or  showing  any  of  the  au- 
thority that  property  belongs  to  the  principal 
wife,  but  smiling  at  her  frivolities,  sympathizing 
with  her  sorrows  and  treating  her  as  an  equal  in 
all  things. 

"Do  you  never  feel  anger  when  our  honor- 
able husband  neglects  you  and  shows  me  such 
favor?"  asked  Suey  Sum. 

"Wives,  daughters  and  slaves  must  be  obedient 
and  respectful  and  live  as  they  are  ordered,"  re- 
plied Fong  Fah. 

When  Suey  Sum  bore  Quan  Quock  Ming  a 


A  LITTLE  FOREIGN  DEVIL      211 

daughter  he  paid  no  further  attention  either  to 
Fong  Fah  or  Suey  Sum.  Then  the  two  women 
became  as  sisters,  attending  the  house,  the  sew- 
ing and  the  babies  together,  and  Suey  Sum  sang 
no  more,  except  occasionally  to  hum  this  ode  of 
T'sin: 

"He  lodged  us  in  a  spacious  house, 

And  plenteous  was  our  fare. 
But  now  at  every  frugal  meal 

There's  not  a  scrap  to  spare. 
Alas!  alas,  that  this  good  man 
Could  not  go  on  as  he  began." 

Shim  Ming,  a  slave  girl,  ran  away  from  her 
owner  one  day,  and  though  he  spent  much  money 
he  could  find  no  trace  of  her. 

"It  is  as  though  she  had  gone  on  the  back  of 
a  dragon,"  said  he  to  Quan  Quock  Ming.  "What 
can  you  advise,  sir  scholar?" 

"Sell  her,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"Who  would  be  so  foolish  as  to  buy  a  pig  that 
can  neither  be  weighed  nor  delivered?" 

"I  will  give  $200  for  her.  With  the  aid  of 
the  gods  I  may  be  able  to  find  her,"  and  Shim 
Ming's  owner  was  glad  to  get  a  tenth  part  of  her 
value. 

When  he  had  given  the  writing  of  sale  and 
departed  with  the  money,  Quan  Quock'  Ming 
opened  the  door  of  a  closet  and  said: 

"You  may  come  out,  Shim  Ming.  I  have 
bought  you  for  a  third  wife.  Be  sure  that  you 
bear  me  a  son." 

When   Shim    Ming  gave   him   a   daughter  he 


2i2  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

merely  shook  his  head,  saying:  "I  endure  what 
the  gods  inflict." 

An  impious  man  would  have  cursed  loudly,  and 
an  impatient  man  would  have  given  all  three 
wives  a  beating. 

Shim  Ming  was  a  big  boisterous  woman,  who 
laughed  when  she  was  amused  and  scolded  noisily 
when  she  was  displeased.  She  knew  her  place  as 
third  wife,  but  being  always  rebellious  assumed 
the  authority  that  belonged  to  the  first  wife,  did 
all  the  marketing,  scolded  Fong  Fah  and  Suey 
Sum  and  laughed  at  Quan  Quock  Ming's  re- 
proofs. 

"If  you  do  not  keep  your  place  I  shall  give  you 
a  beating,"  he  once  said  to  her. 

Shim  Ming  flew  into  a  terrible  passion, 
scratched  his  face,  screamed  and  cursed,  and 
shouted  from  the  windows  to  all  on  the  street  that 
her  husband  was  beating  her.  Then  a  fan  quai 
official  broke  down  the  door  and  humiliated  Quan 
Quock  Ming  greatly  by  pulling  his  queue. 

"The  next  time  you  so  disgrace  me,"  said  the 
sage,  "I  shall  thrust  you  out  the  front  door  and 
close  it  after  you." 

Shim  Ming,  fearing  such  a  disgrace,  and  Quan 
Quock  Ming,  remembering  his  humiliation,  were 
ever  afterward  more  careful  of  their  conduct  to- 
ward one  another. 

Quan  Quock  Ming,  as  is  customary  when  one 
greatly  desires  sons  and  has  only  daughters,  gave 
his  girls  no  names,  but  referred  to  them  by  num- 


A  LITTLE  FOREIGN  DEVIL       213 

ber.  Ah  Yut  was  as  shy  as  a  partridge,  as  timid 
as  a  mouse,  but  as  playful  as  a  kitten — when  her 
honorable  father  was  not  there  to  scowl,  or  her 
honorable  father's  third  wife  to  scold;  and  she 
was  a  little  mother  to  her  younger  sisters.  When 
she  had  lived  six  years  she  led  three-year-old  Ah 
Kee  by  the  hand  and  carried  one-year-old  Ah 
Sam  on  her  back,  and  watched  her  with  such  care 
that  she  never  lost  the  cap  from  the  baby's  head 
or  the  bottle  from  the  pocket  of  the  baby's  apron 
when  she  went  on  the  street  to  buy  sugar-cane  or 
candy.  But  if  anyone  tried  to  take"  the  baby  from 
her  she  would  yell,  and  kick,  and  bite,  and  scratch 
like  the  mother  of  kittens.  At  night  none  could 
hush  the  baby  so  quickly  as  Ah  Yut,  and  when  it 
was  asleep  in  its  own  bed  she  would  take  Ah  Kee 
in  her  arms  and  soothe  her  until  they  both  slept. 

It  was  not  only  with  the  children  that  Ah  Yut 
was  helpful,  for  often  when  the  women  were 
working  hard  over  the  sewing  she  made  the  fire 
in  the  oil  can  that  stood  in  the  old  fireplace  and 
served  very  well  as  a  stove,  putting  the  ends  of 
the  sticks  together  and  blowing  them  into  a  flame, 
or  pulling  the  ends  apart  when  they  blazed  too 
quickly,  so  as  to  cook  the  rice  without  waste  of 
paper  or  wood. 

The  three  sisters  were  sitting  on  the  steps  at 
the  foot  of  the  stairway  one  day  watching  the 
wonderful  happenings  on  the  street,  when  strange 
girls  spoke  to  them  of  the  fan  quai  school  where 
children  were  taught  to  speak,   to  read  and  to 


2i4  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

write  the  language  of  the  foreign  devils,  where 
they  learned  to  sing  pretty  songs  and  were  told 
wonderful  stories.  And  all  the  daughters  of  Qaun 
wanted  very  much  to  go,  but  it  was  only  little  Ah 
Sam  who  dared  speak  of  the  matter;  and  it  was 
only  her  mother  who  had  the  courage  to  mention 
it  to  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"How  can  it  be  proper  for  girls  to  go  to 
school?"  he  asked  in  severe  tones.  "Why  is  it 
necessary  for  them  to  learn  anything  beyond  the 
care  of  a  household?  Why  should  I  fatten  pigs 
for  someone  else?" 

Shim  Ming  slammed  doors,  upset  stools, 
burned  the  rice  and  grumbled  until  Quan  Quock 
Ming  said: 

"Ah  Sam  may  attend  the  fan  quai  school." 

Every  day  when  Ah  Yut  and  Ah  Kee  took 
their  younger  sister  there  and  brought  her  home 
again,  they  watched  with  hungry  eyes  the  other 
girls  with  the  pretty  clothing  of  the  foreign  devils 
and  make-believe  babies  that  looked  like  little 
women;  and  they  listened  with  hungry  ears  to 
all  that  was  said  of  the  school.  Then  they  walked 
home  slowly  and  played  very  quietly  with  the 
little  things  they  found  in  the  streets,  tying  bits 
of  cloth  around  them,  calling  them  babies  and 
giving  them  pretty  names. 

The  wonderful  fan  quai  woman,  whom  they 
had  often  seen,  and  who  had  spoken  to  them  oc- 
casionally, walked  home  with  them  one  day,  hold- 
ing Ah  Yut  and  Ah  Kee  each  by  one  hand;  and 


A  LITTLE  FOREIGN  DEVIL       215 

both  were  at  the  same  time  very  happy  and  very 
fearful,  for  neither  knew  the  meaning  of  such 
kindness,  being  more  accustomed  to  the  jeers  of 
little  foreign  devils  who  threw  stones.  When  Ah 
Sam,  who  had  learned  to  speak  in  the  foreign 
tongue,  told  their  mothers  that  the  woman  wanted 
Ah  Yut  and  Ah  Kee  to  go  to  school  too,  they  ran 
and  hid  themselves  behind  the  curtains  of  a  bed 
and  wondered  when  they  peeped  out  and  saw  their 
mothers  shedding  tears  over  nothing  and  saying 
not  a  word. 

Shim  Ming  made  clothing  for  Ah  Sam  after 
the  fan  quai  fashion,  and  bought  for  her  a  large 
hat  adorned  with  bright  ribbons  and  flowers,  and 
Ah  Yut  and  Ah  Kee  looked  at  the  things  long- 
ingly, but  dared  not  ask  so  much  as  to  touch  them. 
But  when  they  walked  to  school  Ah  Sam  would 
sometimes  let  one  of  them  wear  the  hat,  and 
though  it  looked  peculiar  with  the  Chinese  attire, 
the  lucky  one  strutted  like  a  viceroy  with  a  three- 
eyed  peacock  feather. 

Ah  Yut  and  Ah  Kee  were  very  proud  of  Ah 
Sam,  with  her  learning  and  her  attire,  and  one 
day  when  Louie  Hong's  boy  pointed  the  impor- 
tant fingers  of  his  two  hands  at  her  and  shouted 
in  the  foreign  language: 

"No  likee  king  ti! 
Heap  likee  fan  quai!" 
Ah  Yut  caught  him  and  gave  him  a  good  thrash- 
ing. 

When  the  smallpox  came  to  Chinatown  every 


216  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

thoughtful  parent  inoculated  his  children  with  it, 
so  that  they  would  have  it  at  the  age  when  there 
is  little  danger,  but  the  foreign  devils  were  so 
fearful  of  it  that  they  made  laws  against  it,  and 
all  Chinese  who  had  it  were  kept  hidden,  so  that 
they  would  not  be  taken  from  their  homes.  Thus 
it  was  impossible  for  all  to  receive  proper  care, 
and  though  Ah  Kee  and  Ah  Sam  were  scarcely 
touched  with  the  flowers  of  heaven,  Ah  Yut's  face 
was  left  a  livid  scar. 

"Let  no  one  see  the  face  of  the  Pow  Tai,"  or- 
dered Quan  Quock  Ming. 

Ah  Yut  went  upon  the  street  no  more,  and 
when  visitors  came  she  was  hidden  in  a  closet. 


CHAPTER  II 

A  SACRIFICE  TO  THE  GODS 

Fong  Fah  and  Suey  Sum  were  sewing  silently 
and  diligently.  Ah  Yut  was  moving  softly  about 
her  duties  in  the  house.  Shim  Ming  was  doing 
her  gossiping  and  marketing.  Ah  Kee  had  gone 
with  Ah  Sam  to  the  closing  entertainment  of  the 
school.  Suey  Sum  saw  tears  falling  upon  Fong 
Fah's  sewing. 

"Are  you  still  grieving  for  your  mother,  broth- 
ers and  sisters  in  the  Middle  Kingdom?"  asked 
Suey  Sum. 

"No;  it  is  not  what  has  been,  but  what  is  to  be, 
that  disturbs  me,"  replied  Fong  Fah.  "Your 
daughter  and  Shim  Ming's  are  young  and  beauti- 
ful, while  mine  is  pock-marked  and  ugly,  and  al- 
ready past  the  age  when  a  husband  should  be  pro- 
cured for  her." 

"But  you  have  your  daughter,  Fong  Fah,  and 
we  have  none.  Though  we  bore  them,  they  must 
call  you  'mother,'  and  call  us  'sister.'  But  I  have 
taught  Ah  Kee  to  call  me  'mother'  when  no  one 
can  hear.    You  do  not  care,  do  you,  Fong  Fah?" 

"Not  if  it  makes  you  happier,  Suey  Sum." 

The  bell  rang,  and  Ah  Yut  opened  the  door. 
217 


218  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

Shim  Ming,  excited  and  puffing  with  the  exertion 
of  climbing  the  stairs,  hurried  in. 

uAih-yah!  But  I  have  heard  a  piece  of  news!" 
she  shouted.  "One  of  Loo  Yee's  slave  girls  ran 
away  to  the  fan  quai  mission  last  night,  and  it  is 
believed  that  Lim  Doon  persuaded  her  to  go. 
He  is  surely  carrying  his  coffin  on  his  back,  and  if 
he  does  not  hide,  the  Hop  Sing  tong  will  see  to  it 
that  he  sleeps  on  the  sidewalk." 

"I  am  glad  she  ran  away,"  said  Suey  Sum.  "Did 
she  go  because  she  liked  Lim  Doon?" 

"When  you  were  Loo  Yee's  slave  did  you  get 
our  honorable  husband  to  buy  your  freedom  be- 
cause you  liked  him?  Or  was  it  because  old  Woo 
Ho  beat  you  with  a  stick?  It  is  said  that  she 
grows  more  severe  every  day,  and  the  girls  she 
guards  are  never  free  from  bruises.  Loo  Yee  will 
have  to  buy  another  girl  now." 

"The  one  he  buys  would  do  well  to  take  opium 
quickly." 

"None  should  know  better  than  you.  Some 
day  he  will  get  a  girl  with  spirit  enough  to  die  on 
his  doorstep  and  bring  him  bad  luck.  Have  Ah 
Sam  and  Ah  Kee  returned  yet?" 

"Not  yet." 

Shim  Ming  disposed  of  her  groceries  and  sat 
down  to  help  Fong  Fah  and  Suey  Sum  with  the 
sewing. 

"It  is  time  our  honorable  husband  was  seek- 
ing a  husband  for  Ah  Kee,"  she  said.  "She  has 
now  lived  fifteen  years,  and  what  is  the  sense  of 


A  SACRIFICE  TO  THE  GODS      219 

wasting  food  and  clothing  upon  one  who  is  to 
become  the  daughter  of  another?" 

"It  is  fortunate  that  women  are  few  and  men 
are  prosperous  here,"  said  Suey  Sum.  "Wedding 
presents  are  very  large.  But  Ah  Yut  is  not  yet 
married." 

"Hai-e-e!  That  ugly  pock-marked  pig!  It  is 
useless  to  think  of  doing  anything  for  her,  except 
to  make  her  work  and  thus  pay  for  her  food  and 
her  clothing." 

Fong  Fah  hung  her  head  and  made  no  reply, 
but  Suey  Sum  said: 

"Ah  Yut  is  a  very  good  girl." 

"Yes;  she  is  a  good  girl,"  Fong  Fah  said  softly, 
"even  if  she  is  ugly.  But  Ah  Kee  is  very  beauti- 
ful, and  a  very  fine  husband  should  be  found  for 
her." 

"No;  you  should  not  expect  much  of  a  husband 
for  her,"  said  Shim  Ming.  "She  has  not  been  to 
the  fan  quai  schools,  and  is  lazy  and  vain.  When 
my  girl  is  old  enough  to  marry  she  shall  have  a 
very  smart  young  man — one  who  knows  every- 
thing that  the  Chinese  and  the  fan  quai  know, 
and  wears  fan  quai  clothing,  and  is  very  rich  and 
important. 

"There  are  many  fine  young  men  who  still 
wear  queues  and  know  how  to  want  a  wife  that 
does  not  know  too  much.  A  good  wife  should 
have  no  mind  of  her  own  either  for  good  or  evil." 

"Oh,  yes;  a  wife  should  be  like  a  dove — quiet 


220  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

and  stupid.  You  two  should  be  very  good  wives, 
for  you  are  very  stupid." 

There  was  a  great  clatter  on  the  stairs  and 
Ah  Sam  and  Ah  Kee  came  running  in,  excited  and 
breathless. 

"I  won  it!"  shouted  Ah  Sam. 

uWon  what?"  asked  her  mother. 

'This  medal." 

"What  is  it?   A  good  luck  charm?" 

"No;  it  is  a  scholarship  medal  for  being  the 
best  in  the  school." 

"What  is  the  meaning  of  those  characters  upon 
it?" 

"William  Wood  Scholarship  Medal.  To  El- 
sie D.  Quan.     1902." 

"What  is  the  meaning  of  the  words,  'Elsie  D. 
Quan?'" 

"That  is  my  book  name." 

"Who  ever  heard  of  a  girl  having  a  book 
name?    Who  gave  it  to  you — the  professor?" 

"No;  I  gave  it  to  myself.  When  I  first  went 
to  this  school  and  the  teacher  asked  my  name,  I 
answered:  'No.  3/  and  all  the  white  pupils 
laughed.     So  I  took  a  foreign  name." 

"I  have  a  fan  quai  name,  too,"  said  Ah  Kee. 
"Ah  Sam  gave  it  to  me — didn't  you,  Elsie?" 

"Yes,  Gladys." 

"Hai-e-el  'No.  2'  isn't  fine  enough  for  you," 
grumbled  Shim  Ming.  "Next  the  ugly  Ah  Yut 
will  want  a  pretty  name." 


A  SACRIFICE  TO  THE  GODS       221 

"No;  she  will  always  be  Ah  Yut,"  said  Fong 
Fah.     "Won't  you?" 

"Yes,  mother." 

"Go  back  to  your  cooking,  or  everything  will 
be  burned,"  shouted  Shim  Ming.  "Take  off  those 
fine  clothes,  Ah  Sam,  for  your  honorable  father 
will  soon  be  home." 

Ah  Kee  was  lighthearted  and  mischievous,  and 
as  Ah  Sam  took  off  her  pretty  fan  quai  clothing 
Ah  Kee  put  the  skirt  on  over  her  Chinese  trousers 
and  placed  the  big  hat  on  her  head.  Then  she 
ran  into  the  room  where  they  were  sewing. 

"I  will  show  you  how  Ah  Sam  won  the  medal," 
she  said. 

She  made  a  bow  to  the  women  and  spoke  the 
foreign  words  she  heard  Ah  Sam  learning,  about 
the  wreck  of  a  vessel  and  the  death  of  the  cap- 
tain's little  daughter.  She  was  interrupted  by 
the  sound  of  Quan  Quock  Ming's  footsteps  on 
the  stairs,  returning  to  his  home  after  a  day  of 
telling  fortunes  on  the  street.  The  girls  scam- 
pered into  the  bedroom  while  Ah  Yut  was  open- 
ing the  door. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  threw  his  folding  table  and 
stool,  his  big  umbrella  and  his  urn  of  question 
sticks  into  a  corner  of  the  room,  mopped  his  face 
with  his  green  silk  handkerchief  and  scowled  at 
the  women. 

"Hai-e-e !  Indolence  is  wicked  and  disgusting," 
he  grumbled.  "It  is  almost  time  for  the  evening 
meal  and  not  more  than  half  of  your  factory  sew- 


222  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

ing  is  done.  How  do  you  expect  to  earn  enough 
money  to  buy  the  food  and  clothing  for  the  fam- 
ily, to  say  nothing  of  the  rent?  Not  a  drop  of 
tea  ready  for  me !  Three  swinish  wives  and  three 
pigs  of  daughters!  Was  ever  a  man  so  cursed? 
The  meddlesome  fan  quai  officials  have  stopped 
all  fan  tan  and  lottery,  and  no  one  comes  to  have 
his  fortune  told!  Nothing  but  flies  and  old  women 
buzzing  on  the  street  corners  the  whole  day — and 
there  is  only  vexation  in  both !  Has  anyone  called 
on  business  today?" 

"No  one  has  called  today,"  replied  Shim  Ming. 

"Is  Ah  Kee  here?" 

"Ah  Kee  is  here." 

"Someone  is  coming  to  see  her.  Is  she  well 
dressed?" 

"Yes,  she  is  well  dressed." 

"Our  honorable  husband  doubtless  thinks  of 
finding  a  husband  for  Ah  Kee,"  whispered  Suey 
Sum  to  the  other  women,  "and  it  is  the  marriage 
broker  he  expects." 

Ah  Yut  brought  her  father  his  tea,  and  as  he  was 
supping  his  third  cup  noisily  the  door  bell  rang. 

"See  who  is  at  the  door,  Shim  Ming,"  he  or- 
dered, as  he  seated  himself  hastily  at  his  table 
and  took  up  a  book. 

"It  is  Loo  Yee  and  a  woman,"  said  Shim  Ming, 
after  peeping  through  the  spy  hole  at  the  door. 
"I  can't  see  her.    Oh,  yes;  it  is  old  Woo  Ho." 

Suey  Sum  dropped  her  sewing  and  clutched 
Fong  Fah's  arm  when  the  man  who  had  owned 


A  SACRIFICE  TO  THE  GODS      223 

her  and  the  woman  who  had  beaten  her  were  men- 
tioned. 

"Admit  them,"  ordered  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

They  entered  three  paces  and  bowed  several 
times  toward  Quan  Quock  Ming  but  he  made 
a  pretense  of  reading  for  a  moment  before  he 
looked  up  and  stared  at  them  through  his  spec- 
tacles. 

"Have  you  business  with  me?"  he  asked. 

"Yes,  sir  scholar;  I  will  have  my  fortune  told," 
replied  Loo  Yee. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  took  up  his  urn  of  question 
sticks,  shook  them  about  and  asked  Loo  Yee  to 
select  one.  As  Quan  Quock  Ming  took  it  from 
him  he  said: 

"I  know  naught  of  your  honorable  ancestry; 
naught  of  your  business  affairs;  naught  of  your 
private  life,  and  naught  of  your  past  or  your 
future,  but  this  reveals  all  to  me." 

"You  always  say  the  same  thing,  tfiough  you 
know  me  very  well  and  have  told  my  fortune 
many  times,  once  no  later  than  yesterday." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  made  no  reply,  but  scrutin- 
ized the  characters  on  the  question  stick.  Woo 
Ho  looked  about  her,  nodded  her  head  toward 
the  women  many  times  and  grinned. 

"You  found  a  very  fine  husband,  Suey  Sum," 
she  said,  but  none  of  the  women  paid  any  at- 
tention to  her. 

"Your  name,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming,  "is 
Loo—" 


224  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Never  mind  that,  sir  scholar,"  interrupted  Loo 
Yee.  "I  know  my  own  name,  and  the  name  of 
my  father,  and  the  name  of  my  grandfather.  I 
want  to  know  if  I  am  to  have  some  good  for- 
tune." 

"Every  fortune  is  good  fortune,  even  though 
evil  may  be  predicted,  for  in  that  case  one  may 
offer  sacrifices  and  avert  it;  and  that  is  good.  You 
are  contemplating  a  business  transaction  that  will 
bring  you  profit,  though  at  first  it  may  appear 
to  be  a  bad  bargain." 

"That  is  good,  sir  scholar,  though  I  would 
rather  not  feel  that  I  had  made  a  bad  bargain." 

"Hai-e-e!"  grumbled  old  Woo  Ho.  "You  came 
here  to  transact  business,  so  why  not  do  so  at 
once?" 

"Hold  your  tongue,  or  you  will  walk  your  way 
quickly,"  said  Quan  .  Quock  Ming.  "There  is 
much  greater  good  fortune  in  store  for  you,  Loo 
Yee.  You  have  a  son  who  will  be  a  great  com- 
fort to  you  all  the  days  that  you  live;  and  when 
you  are  dead  he  will  inscribe  your  name  upon  a 
tablet  and  place  it  upon  the  family  altar,  where 
the  oil  will  never  cease  to  burn,  and  he  will  offer 
sacrifices  and  worship  your  memory  at  your 
grave." 

"All  that  is  very  good  to  hear,  sir  scholar. 
Doubtless  you,  too,  have  a  fine  son." 

"I  have  three  worthless  wives,  and  each  has 
borne  me  a  pig  of  *a  daughter." 

"They  must  be  very  fine  girls,  sir  scholar,  and 


A  SACRIFICE  TO  THE  GODS      225 

will  some  day  be  very  good  daughters  to  their 
husband's  parents." 

"One  of  them  may  be  considered  handsome. 
Call  Ah  Kee." 

Suey  Sum  dropped  her  sewing  and  seized  Fong 
Fan's  hands  as  Shim  Ming  went  to  call  Ah  Kee, 
but  Fong  Fah  smiled  and  patted  her  reassuringly. 
Ah  Kee  came  in  shyly,  but  with  a  smile  on  her 
face,  and  Loo  Yee  and  Woo  Ho  eyed  her  long 
and  steadily. 

"You  have  a  very  fine  daughter,  Suey  Sum," 
said  Woo  Ho,  "but  it  is  unfortunate  that  you 
did   not   bear   your  honorable   husband   a   son." 

"Is  this  your  thousand  of  gold?"  asked  Loo 
Yee. 

"This  is  the  little  pig  of  whom  I  spoke,"  replied 
Quan  Quock  Ming. 

Woo  Ho  walked  over  to  Ah  Kee  and  felt  of 
her  limbs  and  body,  and  examined  her  much  as 
she  would  a  squab  in  the  market. 

"Will  you  take  a  seat,  Loo  Yee?"  said  Quan 
Quock  Ming. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  filled  his  water  pipe  two 
or  three  times  and  then  passed  it  to  Loo  Yee, 
who  smoked  for  a  time  in  silence  as  he  looked  at 
Ah  Kee. 

"She  is  very  small,  sir  scholar,"  said  he. 

"She  is  not  tall,  but  she  is  strong  and  well  de- 
veloped." 

"How  many  years   has   she  lived?" 

"We  have  fed  her  for  fifteen  years." 


226  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Fifteen  years !"  exclaimed  old  Woo  Ho,  and 
she  counted  on  her  fingers.  "Yes;  that  is  true. 
It  is  sixteen  years  since  you  bought  her  mother 
from  my  honorable  master  for  a  second  wife. 
Still  she  appears  to  be  no  more  than  thirteen,  and 
she  looks  so  much  like  a  child  that  the  missionaries 
may  make  trouble  over  her." 

"She  appears  to  be  ill-tempered  and  disobe- 
dient," said  Loo  Yee. 

"She  has  a  very  good  disposition,  Loo  Yee, 
and  you  may  be  sure  that  I  have  taught  my  daugh- 
ters obedience  and  the  respect  that  is  due  their 
elders." 

"What  would  you  consider  a  suitable  present, 
sir  scholar?" 

"I  could  not  think  of  accepting  less  than 
$2500." 

"Hai-e-el  That  is  too  much,"  growled  Loo 
Yee. 

Woo  Ho  clicked  her  tongue  and  shook  her 
head. 

"I  cannot  accept  less,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"I  can  give  you  no  more  than  $1500,"  declared 
Loo  Yee. 

"Aih-yahl  Are  you  insolent,  or  do  you  think 
me  a  fool?" 

"Neither,  sir  scholar;  but  I  know  what  a  suit- 
able present  should  be,  and  what  I  can  afford  to 
give." 

"I  would  not  bargain  with  you,  but  tell  you  to 
walk  your  way,  Loo  Yee,  were  it  not  that  I  have 


A  SACRIFICE  TO  THE  GODS       227 

a  bad  fung  shut,  and  the  evil  spirits  bring  me 
nothing  but  misfortune.  I  must  have  money  to 
sacrifice  at  the  temple,  but  I  cannot  accept  one 
cent  less  than  $2250." 

Suey  Sum  began  to  cry  very  softly,  but  Quan 
Quock  Ming  scowled  at  her  and  Shim  Ming  shook 
her  as  she  would  a  child  that  was  misbehaving. 

"I  am  a  business  man,  sir  scholar,"  said  Loo 
Yee,  "and  this  is  a  business  transaction.  If  I 
should  give  you  what  you  ask  I  would  lose  my 
face  as  a  maker  of  bargains.  Still,  appreciating 
the  worthy  motive  that  prompts  you,  I  will  give 
as  much  as  $1750,  but  no  more.  That  is  all  the 
money  I  have,  and  if  I  gave  a  higher  price  I  would 
have  to  borrow  only  to  be  cheated." 

"You  are  a  close  bargainer,  Loo  Yee,  while  I 
have  no  mind  for  business  matters,  so  I  will  fix 
my  last  price.  I  will  abate  $150  if  you  will  add 
$350.    That  will  make  $2150." 

"It  is  too  much.     I  cannot  give  it." 

"Then  walk  your  way,  Loo  Yee." 

"Very  well,  sir  scholar,"  and  he  went  toward 
the  door,  followed  by  Woo  Ho,  clicking  her 
tongue,  shaking  her  head  and  muttering  at  the 
price. 

"One  moment,  Loo  Yee,"  said  Quan  Quock 
Ming.  "You  have  not  paid  my  fee  for  telling 
your  fortune." 

Loo  Yee  tossed  a  twenty-five  cent  piece  upon 
the  table  and  turned  again  to  go.  Suey  Sum 
smiled,  dried  her  eyes  and  picked  up  her  sewing. 


228  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"You  are  an  honorable  man,  Loo  Yee,"  said 
Quan  Quock  Ming,  "and  on  second  thought  I  be- 
lieve that  I  can  abate  $250  if  you  will  add  as 
much  to  your  last  price." 

Loo  Yee  hesitated  and  looked  at  Ah  Kee  again 
for  a  long  time.  Woo  Ho  went  to  the  girl,  felt 
of  her  again  and  nodded  to  her  master,  say- 
ing: 

"She  will  do  quite  well,  though  it  is  a  very 
big  price." 

"Is  that  your  last  price,  sir  scholar?" 

"That  is  my  very  last  price,  Loo  Yee." 

"Well,  I  accept  it,  though  I  believe  I  am  being 
cheated,"  and  he  laid  the  money  on  the  table. 
"Count  it  to  see  that  it  is  right  and  sign  this  writ- 
ing of  sale." 

Suey  Sum  started  up  as  though  to  interfere,  but 
Shim  Ming  pushed  her  back  upon  her  stool,  and 
Fong  Fah  put  her  arm  about  her  and  whispered 
consolingly. 

When  the  money  had  all  been  counted  and  the 
writing  signed  Woo  Ho  took  the  arm  of  Ah  Kee 
and  started  to  lead  her  toward  the  dcor,  but  Ah 
Sam,  who  had  been  listening  in  the  bedroom,  ran 
out  and  held  Ah  Kee  by  the  hand,  crying  out: 

"Don't  go,  Ah  Kee!  Fight!    Scream!" 

Quan  Quock  Ming  struck  his  youngest  daugh- 
ter with  the  flat  of  his  hand,  but  so  heavily  that 
she  sprawled  upon  the  floor  till  Shim  Ming  picked 
her  up,  shook  her,  and  shoved  her  out  of  the 
room. 


A  SACRIFICE  TO  THE  GODS       229 

"Come !"  ordered  old  Woo  Ho,  but  Ah  Kee  re- 
sisted 

"Go!"  commanded  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

Ah  Kee  started  to  obey,  but  she  saw  that  her 
mother  was  crying,  and  tearing  herself  from  Woo 
Ho's  grasp  she  ran  and  flung  her  arms  around 
Suey  Sum's  neck. 

"Come  at  once!"  ordered  Woo  Ho,  as  she 
tried  to  drag  Ah  Kee  away. 

"Mother!  Mother!"  cried  Ah  Kee.  "Where 
are  they  taking  me?" 

"Go!"  shouted  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"Obey,  daughter,"  sobbed  Suey  Sum,  as  she 
kissed  Ah  Kee  on  the  cheek,  and  Ah  Kee  went 
obediently  with  Loo  Yee  and  Woo  Ho. 

As  the  door  closed  behind  them  Suey  Sum 
walked  unsteadily  to  the  family  altar,  placed  the 
women's  god  on  the  front  of  it,  lighted  fresh 
Dunks  with  trembling  hands  and  prostrated  her- 
self. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  was  busy  at  his  camphor- 
wood  chest  and  did  not  notice  her  at  once.  When 
his  eyes  fell  upon  her  praying  to  the  Goddess  of 
Heaven  he  stared,  then  roared: 

"Suey  Sum !  Give  me  my  evening  meal — at 
once!" 

"Yes,  honorable  husband." 

"Obedience  is  the  greatest  virtue,"  observed 
Quan  Quock  Ming,  as  he  smacked  his  lips  over 
his  food. 


CHAPTER  III 

ANOTHER   PIG  FOR   MARKET 

"Mental  tranquillity  and  physical  repose  are 
of  equal  importance,  for  they  are  interdependent, 
and  that  which  disturbs  the  one  destroys  the 
other,"  wrote  Quan  Quock  Ming,  whose  cor- 
pulence had  so  increased  with  his  years  that  his 
stomach  was  big  with  wisdom.  "That  will  be 
both  a  lesson  and  a  warning,"  he  said,  as  he  hung 
the  scroll  upon  the  wall. 

At  precisely  nine  o'clock  every  night  he  called 
his  daughters,  Ah  Yut  and  Ah  Sam,  and  aiming 
his  finger  at  the  writing,  said:  "Go  to  bed." 

At  ten  o'clock  he  laid  aside  his  book,  stared 
long  and  steadily  through  his  horn-rimmed  spec- 
tacles at  each  of  his  three  wives  in  turn  and  shook 
a  monitory  finger  as  he  announced:  "I  am  about 
to  retire.  Be  sure  to  fan  me  incessantly  that  my 
rest  may  be  unbroken." 

At  the  first  breath  from  the  sandalwood  fans 
his  eyelids  quivered  and  closed,  and  he  grunted 
with  content,  complete  but  for  the  thought: 

"Doubtless  the  very  instant  I  slumber,  these 
lazy  swine  steal  away  to  their  couches.  Tonight 
I  shall  catch  them  neglecting  me,  and  I  shall  give 
them  such  a  thrashing  as  they  will  never  forget. 

230 


ANOTHER  PIG  FOR  MARKET     231 

Then  I  shall  be  able  to  sleep  peacefully,"  and  he 
grunted  again  with  the  satisfaction  of  it. 

Afterward  he  lay  quite  still,  feigning  sleep, 
waiting  patiently  for  the  fans  to  stop,  and  plan- 
ning the  punishment  he  should  administer  to  each. 
He  would  slap  Fong  Fah  three  times,  for  she  al- 
ways curled  up  and  showed  no  resentment.  He 
would  strike  Suey  Sum  but  twice,  for  at  the  third 
blow  she  always  fell  on  the  floor  and  cried,  and 
Shim  Ming  he  would  cuff  but  once,  and  that  very 
lightly,  for  she  might  scream  out  the  window 
and  disturb  the  neighborhood.  This  being  settled 
he  breathed  deeply  and  regularly,  and  after  a  time 
snored  a  little.  At  intervals  he  started  up  sud- 
denly with  the  feeling  that  something  was  wrong, 
only  to  find  that  he  had  nearly  fallen  asleep. 

The  wives  of  Quan  knew  as  well  as  the  mother 
of  a  fretful  child  when  slumber  came,  and  then 
Fong  Fah  stretched  herself  at  her  honorable  hus- 
band's feet,  Shim  Ming  dozed  in  his  big  cushioned 
chair,  and  Suey  Sum  stole  away  to  the  kitchen 
to  take  up  her  factory  sewing.  If  he  woke  to  call 
for  tea  or  tobacco,  it  was  only  after  much  stretch- 
ing, yawning  and  grunting,  and  he  always  found 
them  at  his  side  ready  to  attend  him.  When  he 
slept  again  the  house  of  Quan  was  as  still  as  the 
Tien  How  Temple  at  midnight,  except  for  the 
snoring  of  the  sage,  the  smothered  sobs  of  Ah 
Sam  grieving  for  Ah  Kee,  and  the  whispered  con- 
solation of  Ah  Yut,  who  was  always  a  little  mother 
to  her  younger  sister. 


232  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Our  father  had  no  right  to  sell  our  sister  as  a 
slave,"  cried  Ah  Sam,  "and  I  shall  yet  help  her 
to  run  away  to  the  mission." 

"It  does  not  seem  right,  younger  sister,"  said 
Ah  Yut,  "but  disobedience  would  be  more  wicked 
still." 

"You  do  not  understand,  Ah  Yut.  Our  father 
is  Chinese  and  follows  the  laws  and  the  customs 
of  his  people,  but  we  are  Americans,  and  should 
obey  their  law.  He  had  no  right  to  sell  her,  and 
Loo  Yee  has  no  right  to  keep  her.  This  is 
America — not  the  Middle  Kingdom." 

"No,  I  cannot  understand  that,  Ah  Sam.  You 
have  attended  the  fan  quai  schools  and  have  be- 
come a  fan  quai  girl,  while  I  am  ignorant  and  still 
Chinese.  But  we  shall  always  be  sisters,  shall 
we  not?" 

Then  they  put  their  arms  about  each  other  and 
cried  themselves  to  sleep. 

No  one  in  the  household  ever  saw  Suey  Sum 
close  her  eyes.  When  she  was  not  attending  to 
her  honorable  husband  she  was  sewing  by  the  dim 
light  of  an  oil  lamp,  half-blinded  with  tears. 

"Why  do  you  not  rest?"  Fong  Fah  often 
asked. 

"I  cannot  rest  for  thinking  of  Ah  Kee — my 
little  girl — the  slave  of  him  who  once  owned  and 
beat  me,"  she  always  answered. 

"Your  day's  sewing  is  done,  and  you  will  surely 
blind  yourself  or  become  ill  if  you  work  the  whole 
night." 


ANOTHER  PIG  FOR  MARKET     233' 

uBut  I  earn  a  little  more  money  that  our  hon- 
orable husband  knows  nothing  of.  Then  I  buy  a 
lottery  ticket  and  pray  to  the  Mother  of  Heaven 
to  win,  so  that  I  may  buy  Ah  Kee's  freedom.  But 
I  always  lose." 

"I  am  glad  that  my  daughter  has  an  ugly  pock- 
marked face,  for  no  one  will  ever  buy  her  for  a 
slave  or  take  her  for  a  wife,  and  I  shall  always 
have  Ah  Yut  with  me." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  had  finished  his  midday 
meal  and  had  gone  back  to  his  stool  and  table  on 
the  sidewalk  to  tell  fortunes.  Ah  Sam  was  eating 
cakes  from  one  hand  and  doing  sums  in  mathe- 
matics with  the  other,  when  her  mother,  Shim 
Ming,  said  to  her: 

"You  will  not  go  to  school  this  afternoon." 

"Why  not?"  asked  Ah  Sam,  petulantly,  for  she 
had  become  too  much  of  a  fan  quai  girl  to  be  re- 
spectful or  obedient. 

"Because  you  are  wanted  at  home.  Take  off 
your  fan  quai  clothing  and  dress  yourself  in  holi- 
day attire  after  the  Chinese  fashion." 

"I  would  like  to  know  how  I  shall  ever  finish 
at  the  high  school  if  I  am  to  be  kept  at  home." 

"Do  as  you  are  told.     It  is  your  honorable 
father's  orders.     If  anyone  calls,  you  are  to  pre- 
tend that  you  are  Ah  Yut." 

Ah  Sam  obeyed  with  no  more  questions,  though 
she  did  not  understand  the  matter  at  all;  but 
while  the  women  were  unbraiding  her  two  queues, 
smoothing  her  hair  and   fastening  it  with  orna- 


234  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

ments,  she  thought  much,  and  muttered  in  the 
foreign  tongue  so  they  could  not  understand: 

"If  he  tries  to  sell  me  to  any  dirty  slave  dealer 
I  shall  yell  for  the  police.,, 

But  it  was  no  slave  dealer  who  called  that  day. 
It  was  Wong  Yee  Shi  the  marriage  broker. 

Wong  Yee  Shi  drank  the  tea  of  the  chrysanthe- 
mum bloom,  ate  preserved  fruits  and  gossiped 
with  the  wives  of  Quan,  speaking  of  all  matters 
except  marriage.  She  saw  nothing  of  the  ugly 
Ah  Yut,  but  much  of  the  beautiful  Ah  Sam,  noting 
carefully  her  face,  her  form  and  her  manners,  and 
she  listened  eagerly  when  Shim  Ming  spoke  of 
the  gentleness  and  sweetness  of  Ah  Yut. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  seemed  greatly  surprised 
and  none  too  well  pleased  when  he  returned  and 
found  Wong  Yee  Shi  at  his  home. 

"What  do  you  want?"  he  asked. 

"To  inquire  after  your  health,  sir  scholar." 

"Aih-yah !  It  is  very  bad.  I  get  no  sleep  what- 
ever for  the  fear  that  my  rest  may  be  broken.  I 
must  lie  awake  all  night  to  see  that  those  lazy 
women  fan  me  while  I  sleep." 

"Ts !  ts !  ts !"  and  Wong  Yee  Shi  shook  her  head 
sympathetically. 

"Kung-foo-tsze  says  truly:  'No  man  can  watch 
three  wives  with  two  eyes.'  " 

"I  have  heard  it  said,  sir  scholar,  that  a  foreign 
devil  cannot  watch  one  wife  with  two  eyes." 

"But  what  can  one  do  about  it?" 

"Louie  Juck  Sam  is  also  troubled  with  sleepless- 


ANOTHER  PIG  FOR  MARKET      235 

ness,  and  I  am  told  that  he  intends  buying  some  of 
the  foreign  devils'  glass  eyes  to  keep  watch  while 
he  sleeps." 

"Who  is  this  person  Louie  Juck  Sam?" 

"He  is  a  merchant  and  very  prosperous.  That 
reminds  me,  sir  scholar,  that  he  has  asked  me  to 
find  him  a  daughter,  and  I  have  seen  your  thou- 
sand of  gold.  Will  you  be  good  enough  to  tell 
me  her  name?" 

"Her  name  is  Ah  Yut." 

"It  is  possible  that  Louie  Juck  Sam  may  con- 
sider Ah  Yut  a  suitable  wife  for  his  son.  If  you 
will  consider  the  matter,  be  good  enough  to  tell 
me  the  moment  of  her  birth." 

"Would  Louie  Juck  Sam's  son  be  a  suitable 
husband  for  Ah  Yut?" 

"Louie  Lim  is  a  very  handsome  young  man. 
Perhaps  you  have  never  seen  him,  for  he  has  only 
recently  come  from  the  Middle  Kingdom,  and  is 
so  full  of  filial  piety  that  he  never  goes  from  his 
father's  house!" 

Wong  Yee  Shi  was  so  eager  to  earn  her  fee  that 
she  did  not  tell  Quan  Quock  Ming  Louie  Lim  had 
been  blind  from  birth,  and  Quan  Quock  Ming  was 
so  anxious  to  make  a  good  bargain  that  he  pre- 
tended not  to  know  it. 

"Doubtless  it  is  as  you  say,  Wong  Yee  Shi,  but 
my  little  pig  is  a  very  good  housekeeper,  and  I 
am  such  a  foolish  old  man  that  I  do  not  like  to 
see  her  leave  my  home  to  become  the  daughter  of 
another.     Then  I  doubt  if  Louie  Juck  Sam  would 


236  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

make  so  large  a  present  as  I  should  demand. 
However,  you  may  negotiate, "  and  Quan  Quock 
Ming  wrote:  uAh  Yut,  born  5th  year  Kwang 
Hsui,  3rd  month,  1 8th  day — " 

"Aih-yah!"  exclaimed  Wong  Yee  Shi.  "Is  she 
so  old?  Why,  one  would  say  that  she  had  not 
lived  more  than  fifteen  years." 

"That  is  Ah  Yut's  exact  age." 

Wong  Yee  Shi  went  her  way,  marveling  that 
one  who  appeared  so  young  could  have  lived 
twenty  years,  but  she  returned  the  next  day  to  say 
to  Quan : 

"The  astrologer  finds,  sir  scholar,  that  the 
births  of  Louie  Lim  and  Ah  Yut  agree,  and  that 
good  luck  would  come  from  their  marriage,  so  I 
have  come  with  the  offer.  What  would  you  con- 
sider a  suitable  present  from  Louie  Juck  Sam?" 

"I  know  that  he  is  wealthy  and  has  an  honor- 
able ancestry,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming.  "While 
I  am  poor  and  my  family  is  very  mean  and  low. 
Still  I  could  not  consider  anything  less  than 
$1,000." 

"Hai-i-ie!"  exclaimed  Wong  Yee  Shi.  "That 
is  surely  too  much,  sir  scholar.  No  one  ever  gives 
more  than  half  of  that,  and  Louie  Juck  Sam  will 
never  pay  it." 

Wong  Yee  Shi  shook  her  head,  clicked  her 
tongue  and  looked  very  cross  about  it,  for  she 
feared  that  she  would  not  be  able  to  arrange  the 
matter,  and  would  lose  a  fine  fee. 

"Then  walk  your  way  slowly,  Wong  Yee  Shi," 


ANOTHER  PIG  FOR  MARKET     237 

said  Quan  Quock  Ming  firmly.  "That  is  my  last 
price,  and  Louie  Juck  Sam  can  pay  it  or  not  as 
he  chooses,  for  I  shall  not  reduce  it.  However, 
you  are  a  good  woman,  and  you  have  found  such 
a  handsome  young  man  that  I  will  add  $50  to 
your  fee,  if  you  can  arrange  the  matter." 

"It  is  all  arranged,"  said  Wong  Yee  Shi  to 
Louie  Juck  Sam.  "It  is  only  necessary  for  you 
to  agree  upon  the  present  that  you  will  offer  Quan 
Quock  Ming  for  his  daughter,  Ah  Yut." 

Louie  Juck  Sam  smiled  and  rubbed  his  hands 
together  as  he  said:  "You  are  a  good  broker, 
Wong  Yee  Shi.  What  present  does  Quan  Quock 
Ming  demand?" 

"It  is  quite  large,  but  the  girl  will  make  a  very 
fine  daughter." 

"You  must  be  a  bad  bargainer,  Wong  Yee  Shi. 
How  much  is  it?" 

"It  is  not  easy  to  bargain  with  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  for  he  is  a  wise  old  man  and  very  obsti- 
nate." 

"How  much  does  he  ask?" 

"Remember  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  find  a 
wife  for  Louie  Lim,  and  I  doubt  if  Quan  Quock 
Ming  would  bargain  at  all  if  he  knew  your  son 
is  blind." 

"Tell  me,  Wong  Yee  Shi,  what  he  demands." 

"It  does  seem  too  much,  but — " 

"Cease  your  chatter  and  tell  me  at  once." 

"He  demands  a  thousand  dollars." 

"Haie-i-ie!"  roared  Louie  Juck  Sam.    "He  is  a 


238  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

fraud  and  you  are  a  fool !  Go  away!"  and  Louie 
Juck  Sam  cursed  the  mother  of  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  the  mother  of  Wong  Yee  Shi,  and  the 
mother  of  his  own  son. 

"But  you  must  find  a  wife  for  Louie  Lim,  or  he 
will  never  have  a  son  to  preserve  your  memory 
and  worship  his  ancestors,"  argued  Wong  Yee 
Shi. 

"Must  I  bankrupt  myself  and  lose  my  face  as 
a  maker  of  bargains  because  Quan  Quock  Ming 
is  avaricious  and  you  are  a  fool?"  and  Louie  Juck 
Sam  cursed  the  moment  of  his  birth.  "Look  else- 
where for  a  wife  for  my  son,  Wong  Yee  Shi." 

"There  is  no  place  to  go.  I  have  already  been 
in  every  home  where  there  is  a  marriageable 
daughter,  and  none  will  negotiate.  Quan  Quock 
Ming  is  the  only  one  who  will  fix  a  price." 

"A  thousand  dollars  for  a  woman  who  has 
wasted  twenty  years!  Hai-i-ie!"  and  Louie  Juck 
Sam  cursed  heaven  and  earth  and  the  gods. 

"But  she  appears  much  younger  and  is  very 
beautiful,"  said  Wong  Yee  Shi.  "Besides,  she  is 
respectful  and  obedient  and  is  a  very  fine  house- 
keeper." 

Louie  Juck  Sam  walked  to  and  fro,  shaking 
his  head  and  cursing  everything  that  he  had  not 
mentioned  before,  but  finally  he  said:  "Go  to 
Quan  Quock  Ming  and  offer  $750." 

"He  will  not  accept  it.  He  has  fixed  his  last 
price." 


ANOTHER  PIG  FOR  MARKET     239 

"He  must  know  that  Louie  Lim  is  blind.  Did 
you  tell  him?" 

"Aih-yah !    Do  you  think  I  am  such  a  fool?" 

"Yes.  Now  I  suppose  I  shall  have  to  give 
what  he  asks — but  I  shall  not  be  able  to  pay  you 
a  fee." 

"Hai-i-ie!  Why  do  you  suppose  I  have  gone 
from  house  to  house  for  the  last  two  months?" 

"To  get  your  mouth  full  of  gossip  and  your 
belly  full  of  tea  and  cakes." 

"If  you  will  not  pay  me  my  fee  I  shall  go  at 
once  and  tell  Quan  Quock  Ming  that  Louie  Lim 
is  blind,"  and  Wong  Yee  Shi  started  away. 

"Wait  a  minute,  Wong  Yee  Shi,"  said  Louie 
Juck  Sam  quickly.  "I  will  pay  it,  though  I  know 
I  am  being  cheated." 

The  letters  of  three  generations,  naming  the 
parents,  the  grandparents  and  the  great-grand- 
parents of  Louie  Lim  and  Ah  Yut  were  ex- 
changed, and  then  the  daughter  of  Quan  Quock 
Ming  and  the  son  of  Louie  Juck  Sam  were  told 
that  they  were  to  be  married. 

Ah  Yut  retired  to  the  seclusion  of  the  inner 
apartment  to  make  her  wedding  garments,  and 
though  it  was  her  duty  to  cry  for  three  days  only 
before  her  wedding  to  show  she  was  sorry  to 
leave  her  parents,  she  was  so  blinded  with  tears 
from  the  moment  she  was  told  of  the  matter  that 
she  could  scarcely  see  her  sewing. 

"Louie  Lim  believes  I  am  young  and  beautiful, 
while  I  am  old  and  ugly,"  she  cried. 


24o  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"But  you  will  make  a  fine  wife  for  him,"  said 
Ah  Sam,  as  she  put  her  arms  around  her  sister 
and  kissed  her  on  the  cheek,  "and  you  will  be  a 
good  daughter  to  Louie  Juck  Sam." 

"No,  no;  they  will  not  wait  to  find  that  out,  but 
they  will  beat  me  as  soon  as  they  see  how  they 
have  been  cheated.  They  will  drive  me  to  work 
with  a  stick,  and  Louie  Lim  will  take  a  second 
wife,  who  will  laugh  at  me.  It  is  only  reasonable 
that  he  should  do  so,  for  no  man  so  young,  so 
handsome  and  so  wealthy  wants  an  ugly  wife  when 
he  can  just  as  well  get  a  pretty  one." 

"That  is  what  comes  from  being  a  Chinese  girl. 
I  would  not  marry  any  man  that  I  did  not  know 
and  love." 

"What  else  can  a  girl  do,  when  it  is  improper 
even  to  notice  a  man  and  immoral  to  speak  to 
one?" 

"I  would  run  away  to  the  mission." 

"No,  Ah  Sam.  One  must  obey  one's  parents. 
It  would  be  very  wicked  to  do  otherwise." 

"That  is  the  reason  girls  in  the  Middle  King- 
dom form  societies  and  take  a  pledge  to  hang  or 
to  drown  themselves  before  they  can  be  delivered 
to  a  husband." 

"One  can  do  that  as  well  afterward." 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  TOAD  IN  THE  BURROW  OF  THE  MOLE 

When  Louie  Lim  was  told  of  the  beautiful 
young  wife  that  had  been  selected  for  him  he 
said  not  a  word,  but  hour  after  hour  he  sat  think- 
ing. 

"I  am  my  father's  only  son,  and  I  must  take  a 
wife  in  order  that  I  may  have  a  son.  Still,  Ah 
Yut  believes  I  am  as  handsome  as  the  marriage 
broker  described  me,  and  when  she  finds  I  am 
blind  she  will  surely  drown  herself,  as  did  the  girl 
who  married  the  lame  Chin,  or  hang  herself,  as 
did  the  one  who  married  the  cross-eyed  Chew. 
If  she  does  neither  she  will  neglect  my  father's 
house  and  smile  on  other  men,  while  I  am  sitting 
alone  in  darkness." 

But  all  the  tears  of  Ah  Yut  and  all  the  sighs 
of  Louie  Lim  could  not  interfere  with  the 
covenants  and  ceremonials.  The  betrothal  money 
was  paid,  and  the  tea  presents — cakes,  betel-nuts 
and  a  goose — were  sent  to  the  family  of  Quan, 
who  in  turn  sent  the  small  presents — bedding  and 
cooking  utensils — to  the  house  of  Louie. 

The  lucky  day  had  been  selected  by  the 
astrologer,  and  all  who  had  made  presents  to 
Louie  Lim  were  assembled  at  his  father's  home 

241 


242  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

to  await  the  delivery  of  Ah  Yut.  They  hid  his 
wedding  robes,  and  after  he  had  redeemed  them 
with  small  presents  he  clothed  himself  and  wor- 
shiped at  the  family  altar.  Children  disputed  over 
the  candies,  nuts,  oranges  and  copper  cash — the 
symbols  of  fruitfulness  and  wealth — that  they  had 
stolen  from  the  wedding  bed,  while  old  women 
cooked  chickens,  rice  and  red  eggs,  for  guests  must 
feast  at  weddings,  and  red  eggs  bring  good  luck 
and  many  sons. 

Ah  Yut  had  no  girl  friends  to  gather  at  her 
home,  tear  off  her  clothing,  tie  her  hands  and  feet 
and  lock  her  in  a  room  to  keep  her  from  leaving 
them  and  going  to  her  husband,  but  Ah  Sam  alone 
did  all  she  could.  And  Ah  Yut,  with  tears  in  her 
eyes,  resisted  gently  until,  with  the  help  of  Ah 
Sam's  mother,  she  escaped  to  her  room  and 
locked  herself  in.  Then  Shim  Ming  dressed  her 
in  the  plain  white  garments  of  mourning,  wrapped 
the  red  cloth  around  her  head  to  show  she  was 
the  first  wife,  and  took  her  to  the  carriage  that 
waited  at  the  door,  for  there  are  no  red  sedan 
chairs  here.  Neither  was  there  a  procession,  for 
there  were  no  musicians  or  friends  of  the  family 
to  walk  before,  and  no  younger  brother  to  ride 
behind. 

When  Shim  Ming  climbed  the  stairs  of  Louie 
Juck  Sam's  home  to  make  her  offerings  of  betel- 
nut  and  beg  Louie  Lim  to  receive  his  wife,  Ah  Yut 
crouched  in  the  corner  of  the  carriage,  pressed  the 
red  cloth  to  her  face  and  trembled  with  fear.  She 


THE  TOAD  IN  THE  BURROW    243 

wept  and  waited,  it  seemed  hours  and  hours,  for 
Louie  Lim's  friends  had  locked  him  in  a  room  and 
held  him  for  ransom.  One  demanded  a  box  of 
opium,  another  a  silk  jacket  and  a  third  a  box  of 
cigars,  all  of  which  Shim  Ming  agreed  to  pay,  but 
they  refused  to  accept  her  promises  unless  some- 
one guaranteed  them.  She  bowed  to  each  guest, 
offering  betel-nut,  and  begging  that  the  presents 
be  guaranteed,  but  none  would  do  it  until  the  de- 
mands had  been  reduced  to  a  little  opium,  a  silk 
handkerchief  and  a  box  of  tobacco.  Then  Shim 
Ming  was  permitted  to  kneel  at  the  feet  of  Louie 
Lim  and  say  to  him : 

"Your  bride  is  waiting  in  humility  at  your  door 
and  begs  that  you  receive  her." 

With  a  heavy  heart,  lagging  feet  and  groping 
hands  Louie  Lim  made  his  way  to  the  carriage  in 
which  Ah  Yut  still  waited  and  wept,  and  tapped 
the  door  of  it  with  his  fan  to  signify  his  consent. 

Ah  Yut  was  like  one  rising  from  a  long  sickness 
when  Shim  Ming  took  her  upon  her  back  to  carry 
her  from  the  carriage  to  the  inner  apartment. 

"What  worse  luck  can  come  if  my  feet  do  touch 
the  floor  ?"  she  cried,  and  forgot  to  pray  as  she 
passed  over  the  charcoal  fire  that  purified  her 
and  through  the  shower  of  firecrackers  that  drove 
away  the  evil  spirits. 

She  slipped  from  Shim  Ming's  back  and  lay  in 
a  heap  at  Louie  Lim's  feet,  while  he  stood  upon 
a  stool  to  show  his  superiority.  She  dared  not 
raise  her  eyes  even  to  the  soles  of  his  slippers,  and 


244  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

the  old  women  frowned,  shook  their  heads  and 
muttered: 

"Ts!  ts!  ts!  She  shows  too  much  humility. 
She  should  only  kneel." 

Shim  Ming  helped  her  to  her  feet  and  took  the 
red  cloth  from  her  head,  but  Ah  Yut  held  her 
face  so  low  that  none  could  see  it,  even  while  she 
and  Louie  Lim  knelt  at  the  family  altar  and  wor- 
shiped the  ancestral  tablets,  the  gods  of  the  prin- 
cipal doors  of  the  house  and  the  parents  of  Ah 
Yut.  Nor  did  she  raise  her  eyes  to  see  the  orange- 
tree  and  the  good  wishes  for  a  hundred  sons  and 
a  thousand  grandsons,  nor  when  she  knelt  before 
Louie  Lim  to  give  with  trembling  hands  the  two 
cups  of  wine.  And  when  they  took  seats  side  by 
side  both  seemed  to  forget  the  most  important 
thing  at  a  wedding,  or  not  to  care  which  should 
have  the  upper  hand  in  ruling  the  household,  for 
neither  tried  to  sit  upon  a  piece  of  the  other's  gar- 
ments. 

Ah  Yut  buried  her  chin  in  her  blouse  and  clung 
to  her  chair  to  keep  from  falling,  while  Louie 
Lim  sat  very  straight  with  clenched  teeth  and 
twitching  fingers,  both  waiting  for  the  guests  to 
make  the  usual  jokes. 

"Tell  her  she  is  very  beautiful,  Louie  Lim!" 
shouted  one. 

"You  are  very  beautiful,  Ah  Yut,"  muttered 
Louie  Lim,  and  all  laughed,  for  it  was  like  one 
speaking  in  his  sleep. 

"Tell  him  he  is  very  handsome,  Ah  Yut!"  but 


THE  TOAD  IN  THE  BURROW    245 

she  could  not  find  her  tongue  to  speak  the  words, 
and  Louie  Lim  thought  she  had  already  dis- 
covered that  he  was  blind. 

"Tell  her  you  will  beat  her,  Louie  Lim!" 
shouted  another. 

"1  shall  beat  you,  Ah  Yut,"  he  said,  and  his 
voice  was  stern,  for  his  heart  was  heavy;  and 
when  everyone  laughed  Ah  Yut  shivered  and 
sobbed. 

"Tell  him  you  will  smile  on  other  men  when 
he  is  not  at  home,  Ah  Yut!" 

"I  will  smile — "  muttered  Ah  Yut. 

"Louder!  Louder!"  the  people  shouted,  but 
she  could  not  say  another  word. 

"Tell  her  she  is  a  pock-marked  toad,  Louie 
Lim!"  and  all  laughed  and  clapped  their  hands 
at  so  good  a  joke  on  her. 

"You  are  a  pock-marked  toad,  Ah  Yut,"  said 
Louie  Lim,  slowly  and  clearly,  as  one  who  would 
speak  the  truth. 

The  waters  of  sorrow  rushed  to  Ah  Yut's  eyes 
and  overflowed  her  cheeks,  and  when  they  fell 
upon  the  hand  of  Louie  Lim  he  touched  her  face 
lightly  with  his  finger-tips. 

"Tell  him  that  it  makes  no  difference  to  a  blind 
man,  Ah  Yut!" 

Then  for  the  first  time  Ah  Yut  looked  into  the 
face  of  Louie  Lim,  and  she  saw  that  he  was  really 
blind.  She  fell  at  his  feet,  clasped  them  in  her 
hands  and  kissed  them. 


246  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"My  dear  husband  is  blind,'*  she  cried,  "and 
he  can  never  see  my  ugly  face  I" 

Louie  Lim  sprang  to  his  Feet  and  lifting  Ah 
Yut  put  his  two  arms  about  her,  saying  softly  and 
gently : 

"I  can  see  nothing  but  your  loving  heart,  Ah 
Yut!" 

"You  deceived  me,  Wong  Yee  Shi/'  said  Quan 
Quock  Ming.  "You  did  not  tell  me  that  Louie 
Lim  was  blind." 

"You  did  not  tell  me  that  Ah  Yut  was  pock- 
marked, sir  scholar.'* 

"I  shall  not  pay  your  fee,  Wong  Yee  Shi." 

"Aih-yahl  But  I  found  a  good  husband  for 
her,  sir  scholar." 

'What  is  it  to  me  if  the  toad  finds  a  home  in  the 
burrow  of  the  mole?" 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   RUNAWAY   PIG 

It  is  probable  that  Ah  Sam  would  have  been 
very  beautiful  had  she  attired  herself  with  taste, 
and  doubtless  she  would  have  appeared  quite  de- 
sirable had  she  conducted  herself  with  propriety. 
After  she  had  attended  the  foreign  devils'  school, 
however,  she  would  never  let  her  body  be  band- 
aged, as  all  modest  girls  should  in  order  to  have 
a  fine  flat  chest,  but  she  even  wore  the  jacket  of 
whalebone  to  make  her  waist  smaller  and  her 
grossness  more  apparent.  Instead  of  remaining 
in  her  home  and  concealing  herself  from  the  sight 
of  men  she  boldly  went  on  the  streets  alone.  That 
would  not  have  been  considered  so  indecorous  if 
she  had  walked  softly  with  mincing  steps  and  had 
carried  her  head  low  and  her  eyes  cast  down  with 
becoming  humility;  but  she  held  her  chin  high, 
looked  at,  over  or  through  everyone  and  every- 
thing and  clicked  the  very  high  heels  of  her  very 
low  shoes  as  though  to  call  attention  to  the  slen- 
der ankles  and  plump  calves  so  impudently  ex- 
posed. And  every  defiant  toss  of  her  feathered 
bonnet  and  every  confident  swing  of  her  squared 
shoulders  seemed  to  say: 

247 


248  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Well — look  at  me!    What  have  you  to  say?" 

Much  was  said  and  none  of  it  whispers. 

"Hai-ie!  The  fortune-teller  found  a  daw 
among  his  doves!"  laugh'ed  the  elder  people. 

"She  is  worth  no  more  than  a  poisoned  pig!" 
declared  the  slave  dealers. 

"One  might  as  well  take  a  plague  into  his  home !" 
said  the  merchants  with  marriageable  sons. 

"Some  chicken!"  shouted  the  small  boys  who 
understood  the  idioms  of  the  foreign  tongue. 

But  there  were  others,  born  and  educated  here 
— those  who  cut  off  their  queues,  wore  foreign 
attire  and  called  themselves  Native  Sons — who  so 
far  demeaned  themselves  as  to  lift  their  hats, 
speak  to  Ah  Sam  as  an  equal  and  stroll  along  the 
street  at  her  side.  With  them  she  laughed  and 
chatted  as  shamelessly  as  a  slave  girl  trying  to 
wheedle  a  bracelet  from  a  gambler.  But  at  such 
times  she  was  careful  to  avoid  the  corner  where 
her  father  told  fortunes. 

Though  all  agreed  that  she  was  a  very  immoral 
girl,  a  disgrace  to  her  family  and  a  reproach  to 
her  people,  I,  who  had  known  her  from  infancy, 
had  amused  her  in  childhood  and  had  liked  her 
always,  knew  she  had  been  corrupted  by  the  per- 
nicious foreign  doctrine  that  women  should  live  as 
they  wish — not  as  they  are  ordered. 

It  was  after  she  had  finished  at  the  high  school 
that  she  was  often  seen  in  many  different  places — 
sometimes  in  a  public  park,  sometimes  at  a  for- 
eign restaurant  or  theater — but   always  with   a 


THE  RUNAWAY  PIG  249 

student  from  the  university  across  the  bay,  who 
called  himself  Robert  E.  Lee.  And  always  he 
was  whispering  to  her  of  things  that  only  their 
elders  should  mention — things  that  no  scrupulous 
man  should  utter  and  no  decent  girl  should  hear 
— about  love  and  marriage — marriage  by  a  for- 
eign priest  without  a  present  to  her  father !  And 
Ah  Sam  not  only  lent  an  eager  ear,  but  degraded 
herself  by  discussing  the  matter. 

"I  care  nothing  for  my  father  but  much  for  my 
freedom,"  she  told  him,  "and  I  fear  you  do  not 
really  love  me.  Beneath  your  foreign  clothing 
and  culture  you  are  still  only  Chinese." 

To  this  he  protested  vehemently  that  he  had 
become  altogether  foreign,  even  as  she;  that  he 
believed  in  the  one  God  and  the  one  wife,  and  that 
they  two  would  always  be  as  one  heart  and  one 
soul.  At  last  she  believed  and  waited  for  him  to 
kiss  her  on  the  lips,  but  perhaps  that  was  one  for- 
eign custom  he  had  not  learned,  for  he  did  not. 

They  were  standing  at  a  corner  near  her  home 
fixing  the  hour  and  place  of  their  meeting  the 
following  day  to  be  secretly  married,  when  she 
received  a  blow  on  the  side  of  the  head  that  sent 
her  rolling  into  the  gutter.  While  she  still  lay 
there  half  stunned  she  heard  shouts  of  laughter 
and  then  her  father's  voice  bellowing: 

"Get  up,  you  filthy  pig!" 

When  Ah  Sam  picked  herself  up  and  looked 
about  her  Quan  Quock  Ming  was  cursing  and 
waving  his  arms,  and  far  down  the  street,  where 


250  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

shop-keepers  stood  at  their  doors  laughing  and 
shouting,  Robert  E.  Lee  was  running  like  a 
frightened  rabbit,  while  small  boys  pelted  him 
with  bad  vegetables.  Her  father  would  have 
beaten  her  where  all  might  see,  but  Ah  Sam 
sounded  the  whistle  she  wore  on  a  chain  at  her 
throat,  and  a  fan  quai  policeman  came. 

"Take  me  to  the  Mission,"  she  said,  and  as  he 
walked  up  the  street  with  her  the  people  shook 
their  heads  and  shouted: 

"Quan  Quock  Ming  put  a  gold  collar  on  his 
puppy,  and  now  it  follows  only  foreign  devils!" 

"See  what  comes  of  your  folly!"  said  Quan 
Quock  Ming  to  Ah  Sam's  mother.  "I  have  lost 
my  face  and  a  valuable  daughter.  Get  her  back, 
Shim  Ming,  or  I  will  surely  put  you  out  the  door 
and  lock  it  behind  you." 

When  a  secondary  wife  is  permitted  to  grumble 
a  great  deal  she  is  contented,  and  when  she  is 
growing  old  and  fat  she  fears  nothing  more  than 
divorce,  for  the  instant  her  husband's  door  closes 
behind  her  all  other  doors  slam  in  her  face.  So 
Shim  Ming  puffed  up  the  hill  toward  the  foreign 
Mission,  wasting  so  much  breath  in  cursing  un- 
filial  daughters  and  unreasonable  husbands  that 
she  had  to  pause  often  for  more. 

"I  have  come  to  take  you  home,"  she  said  as 
soon  as  Ah  Sam  had  finished  kissing  her. 

"This  is  now  my  home,"  replied  Ah  Sam. 

"Unless  you  return  with  me  your  honorable 
father  will  surely  put  me  out  in  the  street,  and  I 


THE  RUNAWAY  PIG  251 

shall  starve,"  declared  Shim  Ming.  "He  has  said 
it." 

Though  Ah  Sam  loved  her  mother  and  shed 
many  tears  with  her  she  shook  her  head  against  all 
persuasions,  pleas  and  promises,  saying  again  and 
again:  uNo,  mother;  I  intend  to  remain  here." 

"Hai-ie !  Then  I  shall  give  you  the  beating  you 
deserve,"  and  Shim  Ming  would  have  done  it  if 
the  woman  at  the  Mission  had  not  shoved  her 
out  the  door. 

"Aih-yah!  Aih-yah!"  screamed  Shim  Ming  all 
the  way  to  her  home,  and  at  every  window  and 
door  that  opened  she  stopped  to  wave  her  arms, 
shed  more  tears  and  cry  out:  "The  female  foreign 
devil  first  stole  my  daughter  and  then  gave  me  a 
beating!" 

By  the  time  she  had  reached  her  home  a  crowd 
was  following  at  her  heels,  and  she  felt  assured 
that  her  honorable  husband  would  not  dare  deal 
harshly  with  one  whose  great  suffering  had  already 
stirred  the  interest  and  sympathy  of  the  public. 

That  night  Quan  Quock  Ming  talked  long  and 
loudly  before  the  assembled  clan  of  Quan,  say- 
ing: 

"Why  should  I  fatten  a  pig  for  the  foreign 
devils?" 

But  his  kinsmen  only  shook  their  heads  and 
answered:  "Why  indeed?  But  nothing  can  be 
done  about  it." 

When  he  complained  to  the  Suey  Sing  tong 
the  fighting  men  said: 


252  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"If  you  will  offer  a  suitable  reward  we  will  kill 
Robert  E.  Lee,  or  any  other  Chinese  who  may 
have  meddled  in  the  matter,  but  we  cannot  fight 
foreign  devil  women." 

So  Quan  Quock  Ming  was  still  eating  a  dumb 
man's  loss  and  suffering  of  it  when  Loo  Yee,  the 
slave  dealer,  stopped  at  his  table  on  the  street 
corner. 

"Your  pig  has  been  rooting  in  my  garden,  sir 
scholar,"  he  said. 

"Hai-ie!  Since  I  sold  her  to  you  she  has  been 
your  pig,  Loo  Yee.  Do  what  you  please  with 
her." 

"I  am  speaking  of  your  pig — the  one  that  ran 
away  and  found  a  new  sty." 

"What  has  she  been  doing?" 

"She  came  last  night  with  an  official  and  the 
female  foreign  devil  from  the  Mission  and  took 
Ah  Kee  away." 

"I  am  not  the  keeper  of  your  slaves." 

"But  you  are  the  regulator  of  your  own  family. 
Fetch  back  my  pig  or  pay  the  loss  occasioned  by 
yours." 

"I  have  neither  the  money  nor  the  power;  and 
if  I  had  I  would  not  waste  the  one  or  exert  the 
other.     Go  away!" 

"Then  I  shall  pour  water  on  the  grindstone 
while  the  Bing  Kung  hatchet  men  sharpen  their 
cleavers." 

"A  grindstone  would  be  a  fine  target  for  the 
gunmen  of  the  Suey  Sing  tong." 


THE  RUNAWAY  PIG  253 

Quan  Quock  Ming  and  Loo  Yee  looked  long 
enough  into  each  other's  eyes  to  see  that  there 
was  no  misunderstanding  and  then  hurried  away 
to  attend  to  the  business  in  hand.  But  peace- 
talkers  from  the  Tin  Yee  tong  intervened  and 
brought  them  together  again,  saying: 

"It  is  true,  Loo  Yee,  that  you  have  suffered  a 
loss,  but  it  is  also  true  that  Quan  Quock  Ming 
should  not  be  held  wholly  responsible.  He  should 
do  what  he  can  to  repair  it,  and  with  that  you 
should  be  satisfied." 

"I  have  no  money,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming, 
"and  you  know  that  runaway  slaves  cannot  be 
returned.  Perhaps  Loo  Yee  will  accept  in  ex- 
change the  one  that  caused  the  damage.  I  may  be 
able  to  catch  her  again." 

Loo  Yee  seldom  smiled,  but  he  did  then,  and  it 
was  not  pleasant  to  see. 

"I  will  accept  her  if  Quan  will  deliver  her," 
he  said,  "even  though  I  am  able  to  keep  her  for 
only  a  single  night.  It  will  be  worth  the  money 
just  to  see  the  little  foreign  devil  fight  and  hear 
her  scream." 

"I  will  deliver  her,"  promised  Quan  Quock 
Ming. 


CHAPTER  VI 

A  LABORER  IN  THE  VINEYARD 

From  the  windows  of  the  Mission  Ah  Sam  and 
Ah  Kee  often  saw  men  of  the  clan  of  Quan  with 
their  hands  in  their  pockets  loitering  on  nearby 
street  corners  or  lounging  in  nearby  doorways; 
and  sometimes  they  saw  faces  peering  at  them 
from  windows  across  the  street.  Ah  Sam  knew 
their  business  but  had  no  fear  of  them  in  the  day 
time  and  never  went  out  at  night  time  unless  ac- 
companied by  the  keeper  of  the  Mission,  while 
Ah  Kee  went  out  not  at  all.  Many  traps  and 
snares  were  laid  for  Ah  Sam,  but  she  was  too 
wary  to  walk  into  them. 

Loo  Yee  was  grumbling,  the  fighting  men  were 
growing  impatient  and  the  fan  quai  police  were 
trying  to  discover  why  the  business  men  of  China- 
town wore  anxious  faces  when  they  hurried  and 
whispered. 

"You  must  help  me,"  said  Quan  Quock  Ming 
to  me.     "You  are  the  only  person  she  will  trust." 

He  was  very  angry  when  I  refused  to  meddle 
in  the  matter  and  talked  so  much  and  so  loudly 
to  the  merchants  that  all  said  to  me : 

"You  can  prevent  a  war  and  will  not  do  it? 
Very  well!     We  shall  see  about  it!" 

254 


A  LABORER  IN  THE  VINEYARD     255 

Then  I  hurried  to  Quan  Quock  Ming  and  prom- 
ised to  do  whatever  he  might  advise.  Under  his 
instructions  I  procured  a  room  in  a  house  across 
the  street  from  the  Mission  and  rearranged  it,  not 
forgetting  curtains  for  the  bed  to  keep  out 
draughts,  an  altar  for  the  Mother  of  Heaven  to 
keep  out  evil  spirits  and  a  yard  of  carpet  for  the 
floor  to  keep  out  splinters  when  one  should  wor- 
ship. Then  Shim  Ming  went  to  the  Mission  weep- 
ing and  complaining  to  Ah  Sam: 

"Your  honorable  father  put  me  out  on  the 
street  because  you  ran  away,  and  my  own  kinsmen 
closed  their  doors  in  my  face.  I  would  have  had 
no  place  to  lay  my  head  if  Fung,  the  Perfect,  had 
not  provided  me  a  room  over  there.  But  who 
will  supply  me  with  food?  Aih-yah!  I  shalf 
surely  starve!" 

"I  will  send  food  to  you,"  said  the  Mission 
woman. 

"But  who  will  prepare  it  for  me?  The  evil 
spirits  have  put  needle-pains  in  my  legs  and  often 
I  cannot  stand  on  my  feet." 

"I  will  prepare  your  meals,  bathe  your  feet  and 
brush  your  hair,  mother,"  said  Ah  Sim,  kissing 
and  consoling  her. 

"I  will  first  see  the  room,"  declared  the  woman. 

She  went  with  Shim  Ming  and  inspected  the 
halls,  examined  the  windows  and  even  peeped  be- 
hind the  curtains  of  the  bed  to  satisfy  herself  that 
there  was  no  way  for  a  person  to  leave  the  room 
except  by  the  front  door  or  the  fire  ladders  in 


256  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

sight  of  the  Mission.  And  every  morning  Ah 
Sam  went  across  the  street  to  perform  her  filial 
duties. 

It  was  this  very  morning  that  Shim  Ming  was 
on  her  knees  before  the  altar  touching  her  fore- 
head to  the  floor  and  calling: 

"A-a-a-a!  Mother  of  Heaven!  A-a-a-a! 
Mother  of  Heaven!  Hear  me!  Help  me!  Help 
me  to  recover  my  unfilial  daughter,  who  has  aban- 
doned her  good  mother  to  follow  after  wicked 
foreign  devils !  A-a-a-a !  Mother  of a  thou- 
sand devils!     My  rice  is  burning!'* 

She  scrambled  to  her  feet  and  snatched  it  from 
the  stove,  and  I  stepped  out  from  behind  the  cur- 
tains of  her  bed. 

"Aih-yah!!  How  did  you  get  in  here?" 

"The  same  way  Ah  Sam  will  go  out." 

"But  I  was  gone  from  the  room  only  long 
enough  to  get  water  and  never  out  of  sight  of 
the  door." 

"Will  she  surely  come  this  morning?" 

"She  will  surely  come." 

"Then  we  shall  surely  get  her." 

"She  is  very  suspicious  and  watchful.  If  I  but 
turn  my  hand  this  way  or  that  her  hand  flies  to 
the  whistle  at  her  neck." 

"Then  do  not  turn  your  hand." 

"And  the  female  foreign  devil  is  on  watch 
across  the  street  from  the  moment  Ah  Sam  comes 
until  she  goes  again." 

"To-day  she  may  see  her  enter,  but  she  will  not 


A  LABORER  IN  THE  VINEYARD     257 

see  her  go — unless  she  can  see  through  brick  walls 
and — underground." 

"Those  Christian  foreign  devils  are  very 
clever."  «' 

"Your  honorable  husband  has  always  been  clev- 
erer than  they,  and  I  have  become  a  very  good 
Christian,  so  together  there  should  be  no  diffi- 
culty about  the  matter.  I  have  brought  you  a 
hammer  and  some  tacks." 

"What  am  I  to  do  with  them?" 

"Conceal  the  way  of  her  going — when  she  is 
gone.     This  room  will  be  searched." 

"What  am  I  to  do  when  she  comes?" 

"Nothing  whatever — except  to  keep  what  little 
sense  you  have.  Be  neither  kinder  nor  harsher 
than  usual.     I  will  return — and  get  her." 

"What  am  I  to  say  to  you?" 

"Only  what  you  would  say  to  one  who  has  been 
your  benefactor." 

"I  cannot  see  how  it  is  to  be  done,"  she  said, 
shaking  her  head. 

"You  will  see  when  the  time  comes — not  before 
— for  your  eyes  tell  all  that  your  tongue  with- 
holds— which  is  little." 

Then  I  went  down  the  stairs  to  wait  and  to  lis- 
ten. I  heard  Ah  Sam  come  and  knock  at  the  door, 
and  I  heard  Shim  Ming  grumbling  as  she  opened 
it. 

"Hai-i-ie !  Why  do  you  always  come  just  at  a 
time  to  make  trouble  for  me?     The  very  instant 


25 8  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

I  get  seated  to  a  bowl  of  rice  I  have  to  get  up 
and  open  the  door  for  you.11 

UI  always  come  at  the  same  hour,  mother,11  re- 
plied Ah  Sam  gently. 

"Hear  her!  Always  comes  at  the  same  hour! 
If  you  were  a  filial  daughter  you  would  be  here 
always  to  attend  me,  instead  of  following  after 
wicked  foreign  devils  and  their  invisible  God. 
Hai-ie!  Parents  ought  to  know  but  one  trouble 
— that  of  their  own  illness — yet  you  leave  me 
helpless  in  my  old  age  to  starve.11 

"No,  mother  dear;  you  shall  never  starve.  See 
the  nice  piece  of  pork  and  the  vegetable  I  have 
brought  you  for  your  evening  meal — and  some 
salt  fish  for  your  breakfast.  I  am  learning  to 
do  fine  needle-work  at  the  Mission,  and  all  the 
money  I  earn  I  will  give  to  you.1' 

"But  I  have  to  wait  for  you  to  comb  my  hair 
and  bathe  my  feet.11 

"I  would  stay  with  you  always,  mother,  if  I 
could." 

"Aih-yah!  Stay  with  me  always!  Then  we 
both  would  starve.  Who  fed  you  till  you  were 
old  enough  to  be  useful?  Who  clothed  you  till 
you  were  large  enough  to  be  valuable?  Then 
you  ran  away  to  the  Mission,  you  ungrateful  pig! 
And  some  day,  no  doubt,  you  will  let  the  female 
foreign  devil  sell  you  for  a  wife  or  a  slave,  and 
she,  instead  of  your  honorable  father,  will  get  the 
profit.11 

"No,  mother;  the  girls  there  are  not  sold.11 


A  LABORER  IN  THE  VINEYARD     259 

"Not  sold?  Hai-ie!  First  stolen  from  their 
parents  and  then  given  away !  What  wickedness ! 
What  are  girls  for  but  to  become  wives  or  slaves, 
as  their  parents  shall  decide?  You  would  bring 
at  least  $3,000  as  a  slave " 

"No,  mother;  I  will  not  let  myself  be  sold." 

"Then  why  not  let  your  kinsmen  select  a  hus- 
band for  you?  We  can  get  a  wedding  present  of 
at  least  $500.  That  is  very  little,  but  it  is  better 
than  nothing." 

"You  might  better  drive  the  nails  in  the  lid  of 
my  coffin  than  sell  me  either  for  a  wife  or  a 
slave." 

"Hai-ie !"  and  I  heard  the  slap  that  Shim  Ming 
gave  her. 

When  Shim  Ming  opened  the  door  in  answer 
to  my  knock,  Ah  Sam  was  near  the  open  window 
with  her  whistle  in  her  hand.  I  bowed  with 
clasped  hands  and  greeted  her: 

"Peace  be  with  you!" 

She  smiled  and  came  toward  me.  "Are  you, 
too,  a  Christian?"  she  asked  in  surprise. 

"I  have  seen  the  light,"  I  answered. 

"One  can  see  many  lights  in  this  country," 
laughed  Shim  Ming. 

"There  is  but  one  true  light,"  I  replied. 

"Aih-yah !  I  am  a  poor  old  woman  and  can 
use  nothing  but  oil — and  a  very  little  of  that.  But 
for  your  benevolent  liver  I  would  be  wandering 
in  darkness." 

"I   am   only  a   poor  laborer  in  the   Master's 


260  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

vineyard,  but  the  light  shines  for  all,"  I  told  her. 

"Hai-ie!  I  always  thought  you  were  a  rich 
gambler  instead  of  a  poor  laborer." 

"I  am  glad — very  glad,"  said  Ah  Sam,  who  had 
been  listening  to  all  I  said,  "that  you,  too,  are  a 
believer  in  the  one  great  God.  I  wondered  why 
you  had  helped  my  mother." 

"Can  I  help  you,  Ah  Sam?" 

"Only  by  praying  for  me." 

"I  have  prayed  for  you,  Ah  Sam,  and  I  will 
pray  for  you  every  morning  and  every  night — if 
you  will  teach  me  the  prayer  to  the  Father  of 
Heaven."     I  went  toward  the  altar. 

"Not  there,"  said  Ah  Sam. 

I  turned  the  face  of  the  Mother  of  Heaven  to 
the  wall,  took  a  large  cross  from  beneath  my 
blouse  and  placed  it  upright  against  the  back  of 
the  figure.     Ah  Sam  smiled  and  knelt  beside  me. 

"Our  father "  said  Ah  Sam. 

"Our  Father,"  I  repeated  after  her. 

"Who  art  in  heaven " 

"Who  art  in  heaven " 


"Hallowed  be  thy  name " 

"Hallowed  be  thy  name " 

"Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done- 


I  threw  one  arm  around  Ah  Sam,  covering  her 
mouth  with  my  hand  and  touched  a  spring  with 
my  other  hand,  and  we  went  through  the  floor  to- 
gether. As  we  slid  down  the  long  chute  into  the 
cellar  I  heard  Shim  Ming  cry: 

"Aih-yah!" 


A  LABORER  IN  THE  VINEYARD     261 

Looking  up  I  saw  the  trap  door  closing  and 
Shim  Ming  peering  down,  and  when  she  ham- 
mered the  tacks  into  the  carpet  it  sounded  like 
one  driving  nails  in  a  coffin. 

"Oh,  my  God !    Help  me !"  cried  Ah  Sam. 

"Help  yourself,"  and  I  laughed  at  her. 

When  she  had  scratched  my  face  sufficiently  I 
took  her  in  my  arms  and  held  her  so  she  could 
no  longer  move. 

"Your  one  great  God  can  do  nothing,"  I  told 
her,  "but  your  one  little  friend  can  do  much.  If 
you  should  go  through  that  door  to  the  right  you 
would  find  Loo  Yee  waiting  for  you  at  the  other 
end  of  the  passage.  If  you  should  go  through 
that  door  to  the  left  you  would  find  no  one  ex- 
pecting you  in  the  store  adjoining  the  Mission. 
Now  choose  your  way,"  and  I  set  her  on  her  feet. 

"He  has  softened  your  heart,"  she  said. 

"No,  you  scratched  my  face  to  soften  the  heart 
of  your  honorable  father  toward  me.  Go 
quickly — and  trust  no  one  again!" 

Ah  Sam  ran  and  I  after  her,  so  swiftly  that  I 
would  surely  have  caught  her  if  I  had  not  stum- 
bled and  fallen  twice  in  the  store  across  the  street. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  listened  in  silence  while  I 
told  him  all — or  nearly  all — that  had  happened, 
but  he  never  took  his  eyes  from  my  face,  which 
he  could  see  was  scratched  and  bleeding.  He 
looked  at  me  a  long  time,  and  when  he  spoke  I 
was  greatly  surprised  and  not  a  little  relieved  that 
he  showed  no  anger — not  even  disappointment. 


262  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"You  are  growing  so  weak,  Fung  Ching,"  he 
said  very  quietly,  "that  I  fear  you  will  not  live 
long." 

"Yes,  sir  scholar,"  I  replied,  -'I  feel  that  I  am 
carrying  my  coffin  on  my  back,"  and  I  coughed 
like  one  dying  of  lung  trouble. 

Though  that  was  only  this  morning  I  feel  so 
much  better  now  that  I  am  encouraged  to  believe 
that  I  may  still  live  to  see  the  realization  of  my 
old  friend's  worst  fear — that  he  will  die  like  a 
chicken.  It  is  only  a  step  from  the  Land  of  the 
Living  to  the  Kingdom  of  the  Dead — if  so  much 
— and Ah-h-ma ! 

/  had  seen  no  hand,  I  had  heard  no  footfall; 
but  as  Little  Pete  plunged  forward  to  the  balcony 
floor  a  knife  fell  clattering  at  my  feet,  and  the 
door  behind  me  slammed  and  locked.  Flung 
upon  its  frosted  glass  for  just  an  instant  was  the 
shadow  of  a  man,  gigantic  and  grotesque. 


BOOK  V 

LITTLE  CHICKEN 
CHAPTER  I 

THE    HOME   OF   THE   TWO   CRIPPLED   SONS 

When  Chan  Gow  Doy,  with  the  tan  of  a 
Kwang  Si  summer  still  fresh  on  his  face  and  the 
mud  of  a  Comstock  mine  still  damp  on  his  boots, 
broke  the  fan-tan  bank  in  Virginia  City,  his  coun- 
trymen looked  at  him  askance,  shook  their  heads, 
clicked  their  tongues  and  muttered: 

"Suey  quai!"     (Lucky  devil). 

He  stuffed  his  winnings  into  his  pockets,  turned 
his  back  stolidly  upon  the  numerous  cousins  who 
clamored  for  a  feast,  packed  his  few  belongings 
into  an  oil-cloth  bag  and  departed  for  San  Fran- 
cisco. A  small  part  of  his  capital  bought  a  young 
wife,  for  every  man  must  have  a  son;  a  larger 
portion  fitted  up  a  gambling-house  and  provided 
the  bank-roll  to  operate  it,  and  the  remainder 
went  for  sacrifices  at  the  Tien  How  Temple, 
where  Chan  Gow  Doy  prayed  long  and  fervently 
for  much  money  and  many  children.  Within  a 
year  he  had  doubled  his  capital,  and  his  wife 
had  borne  him  a  daughter.     Within  a  decade  it 

263 


264  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

required  six  figures  to  total  his  wealth  and  six 
fingers  to  count  his  daughters. 

"Lucky  devil!"  muttered  his  competitors  who 
saw  his  fortune  growing  with  never  a  break. 

"Poor  devil!"  mused  his  countrymen  who  saw 
his  family  increasing  with  never  a  son. 

But  Chan  Gow  Doy  took  what  came  to  him 
with  no  sign  of  elation  and  no  word  of  complaint, 
holding  himself  aloof  from  those  who  looked  at 
him  askance. 

"Three  healthy  daughters  are  worth  no  more 
than  one  crippled  son,"  say  the  classics,  so  his 
abode  was  always  referred  to  as  "the  Home  of 
the  Two  Crippled  Sons." 

One  cannot  be  too  guarded  in  speaking  of 
aught  that  concerns  evil  spirits,  so  his  gambling- 
house  became  known  as  "the  House  of  Beautiful 
Angels." 

Chan  Gow  Dow  stood  at  the  door  of  the  Ho 
Yin  Doong  smoking  his  pipe  and  meditating,  as 
he  had  every  morning  for  years — meditating  upon 
the  caprices  of  demoniacal  spirits  that  brought 
him  wealth  and  denied  him  sons.  His  desire  had 
become  a  yearning,  his  yearning  an  obsession; 
and  over  and  over  again  he  had  said  to  himself: 

"I  would  give  all  I  possess  if  that  stupid  woman 
would  only  bear  me  a  male  child,  no  matter  how 
dullwitted  or  misshapen." 

As  usual  his  meditations  ended  when  his  eyes 
fell  upon  Quan  Quock  Ming,  the  fortune  teller, 
squatting  on  his  stool  across  the  street.     For  ten 


TWO  CRIPPLED  SONS  265 

years  he  had  watched  the  necromancer  dozing 
on  the  corner,  rousing  himself  only  long  enough 
to  advise  some  credulous  gambler  that  the  god 
of  chance  was  perhaps  propitious.  For  ten  years 
he  had  seen  the  gamblers  hasten  across  the  street 
and  lose  their  money  at  his  tables,  so  he  regarded 
Quan  with  good-natured  tolerance  and  contempt. 

For  ten  years  Quan  Quock  Ming  had  sat  at 
his  table  pretending  to  slumber,  but  covertly 
watching  Chan  Gow  Doy,  each  day  formulating 
new  plans  to  share  in  the  profits  of  the  gambling- 
house  and  as  quickly  abandoning  them  as  imprac- 
ticable; but  always  awaiting  with  confidence  the 
coming  of  the  rich  gambler  and  the  great  oppor- 
tunity. Not  so  much  as  a  nod — not  even  a  New 
Year  greeting  had  ever  passed  between  them,  for 
Chan  Gow  Doy  had  no  need  of  fortune-tellers, 
and  Quan  Quock  Ming  never  played  at  fan-tan. 

While  Quan  watched  the  gambler  from  be- 
neath half-closed  lids  he  cast  frequent  glances  up 
the  street  toward  the  Home  of  the  Two  Crippled 
Sons.  When  at  last  he  saw  a  window  raised  and 
a  white  cloth  waved  he  sprang  from  his  stool 
and  stood  erect  with  both  hands  raised  high  above 
his  head. 

Chan  Gow  Doy  started  and  stared  in  amaze- 
ment, wondering  if  the  fortune-teller  had  suf- 
fered a  sudden  seizure.  Quan  stood  quite  still 
an  instant,  then  strode  deliberately  across  the 
street,  stopped  before  the  gambler  and  bowed 
with  clasped  hands. 


266  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Younger  brother,"  he  said  gravely,  "I  am  the 
bearer  of  bad  news.  Evil  spirits  still  pursue  you, 
and  another  daughter  is  about  to  be  born  to  you." 

uHai-i-ie!"  roared  Chan  Gow  Doy.  He  flung 
his  pipe  upon  the  sidewalk  and  raised  a  clenched 
fist  angrily.  uWho  asked  you  to  meddle  with  my 
affairs?" 

"I  never  meddle,  younger  brother,"  replied 
Quan  softly.     "I  give  information." 

"Hai-ie!  You  merely  guess  when  the  chances 
are  equal  and  you  take  no  risk." 

"I  never  guess,  younger  brother.     I  know." 

uGo  away!"  ordered  Chan  impatiently. 

Quan  bowed  and  turned  to  go.  Again  he 
flung  his  hands  high  above  his  head  and  stood 
in  the  attitude  of  one  listening  intently.  As  he 
lowered  his  hands  he  turned  and  bowed  again  to 
Chan  Gow   Doy. 

"Younger  brother,"  he  said  solemnly,  "another 
daughter  has  just  been  born  to  you." 

Then  he  turned  and  walked  slowly  back  to  his 
stool,  while  Chan  hurried  to  the  telephone  within. 
The  midwife  answered  his  impatient  call. 

"Yes;  it  is  another  daughter,"  she  said,  "born 
this  instant." 

Chan  flung  the  receiver  from  him  with  an  oath 
and  strode  across  to  Quan's  stand. 

"How  did  you  know  that?"  he  demanded. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  squinted  at  him  through  his 
horn-rimmed  spectacles  for  a  full  half  minute  be- 
fore he  answered: 


TWO  CRIPPLED  SONS  267 

"Just  as  I  know  the  next  one  will  be  a  son, 
younger  brother,  if — if "  He  paused  and  pon- 
dered. 

"If  what?"  asked  Chan  Gow  Doy  eagerly. 

"If  you  are  wise  enough  to  listen  to  wisdom — 
and  will  act  promptly." 

"Tell  me  what  to  do*  sir  scholar."  He  laid  a 
gold  piece  upon  the  table. 

"Hurry  to  your  home  and  see  to  it  that  the 
news  goes  forth  that  a  son  has  been  born  to  you. 
Then  return  to  me." 

Within  an  hour  women  were  crying  to  one  an- 
other from  open  windows  and  men  were  calling 
to  one  another  from  shop  doors: 

"Chan  Gow  has  a  son!" 

"Suey  quai!" 


CHAPTER  II 


LITTLE  CHICKEN 


When  Quan  Quock  Ming  saw  Chan  Gow  Doy 
emerge  from  his  home  and  hurry  down  the  street 
he  seized  "The  Necromancer's  Staff  and  Lan- 
tern" and  buried  himself  in  its  pages.  When  he 
calculated  that  he  had  kept  Chan  Gow  Doy  stand- 
ing before  his  table  exactly  long  enough  he 
glanced  up  at  him  over  his  spectacles. 

"What  do  you  want?"  he  demanded. 

"I  want  to  know  what  is  to  be  done,  sir 
scholar?"  He  laid  another  gold-piece  upon  the 
table. 

"Concerning  the  matter  of  the  boy  girl?" 

"Yes,  sir  scholar." 

Quan  laid  aside  the  book  and  pocketed  the  coin 
with  a  pretense  of  indifference.  He  picked  up  his 
urn  of  "question  sticks,"  shook  them  till  they 
were  thoroughly  mixed  and  when  Chan  Gow  had 
selected  one,  studied  the  cryptic  characters  upon 
it  long  and  attentively,  at  the  same  time  mutter- 
ing and  shaking  his  head. 

"It  is  a  very  difficult  matter,  Chan  Gow  Doy," 
he  said.  "You  were  an  only  son,  born  to  your 
parents  in  their  middle  age  and  long  after  they 
had  abandoned  all  hope.     Is  it  not  true?" 

268 


LITTLE  CHICKEN  269 

uThat  is  true,  sir  scholar." 

"In  order  to  delude  the  evil  spirits  into  the  be- 
lief that  you  were  a  little  dog  and  considered  of 
no  importance  you  were  given  the  name  of  Gow 
Doy.  To  further  safeguard  you,  your  father  had 
one  of  his  cousins,  who  had  many  sons,  pretend 
to  adopt  you." 

Quan  looked  to  Chan  for  confirmation. 

uYes;  that  Ts  the  way  to  fool  the  evil  spirits, 
sir  scholar,"  he  said. 

"But  you  may  be  certain  that  they  were  not  de- 
ceived, Chan  Gow  Doy.  They  have  been  pur- 
suing you  and  playing  tricks  upon  you  ever  since. 
They  have  brought  you  great  wealth,  but  only 
to  take  it  away  from  you  at  the  time  of  your 
greatest  need — in  your  old  age.  And*  if  they  per- 
mit you  to  have  a  son  they  will  just  as  surely  take 
him  away  again — unless  they  are  outwitted." 

"Aih-yah!"  cried  Chan  Gow  Doy.  "Let  them 
take  my  fortune  if  they  will,  for  I  can  then  no 
more  than  starve,  but  if  I  have  no  son  to  perpet- 
uate the  family  name  and  offer  sacrifices  at  my 
grave,  how  can  I  ever  get  through  the  Ten  Courts 
of  Justice  in  the  Kingdom  of  the  Dead?" 

"That  is  true.  You  must  have  a  son — at  any 
cost." 

"I  would  freely  give  all  I  possess,  sir  scholar." 

"You  may  have  to,  Chan  Gow  Doy." 

"Tell  me — what  is  to  be  done?" 

"Much — if  the  evil  spirits  are  to  be  deceived. 
They   must   be   led  to  believe   that   you   have   a 


27o  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

son  despite  their  machinations,  and  that  you  have 
parted  with  your  fortune  without  their  interven- 
tion. Thinking  themselves  defeated,  they  will 
retire  in  disgust  and  cease  meddling  with  your  af- 
fairs." 

"But  how  is  that  to  be  done,  sir  scholar?  My 
parents  took  every  precaution,  and  yet  the  spirits 
were  not  deceived.,, 

"Your  parents  were  not  well  advised,  Chan 
Gow  Doy." 

"I  shall  do  as  you  say,  sir  scholar." 

"If  you  fail,  I  will  not  answer  for  the  con- 
sequences," declared  Quan.  "First,  you  must  close 
the  mouth  of  the  midwife  so  tightly  that  it  will 
not  open  again.  Then  you  must  proceed  exactly 
as  you  would  have  done  had  your  seventh  daugh* 
ter  been  your  first  son.  You  must  give  a  great 
feast  to  your  friends,  make  a  handsome  present 
to  the  Mother  of  Heaven,  and  on  the  29th  day, 
when  you  shave  the  head  of  the  child,  give  her 
a  boy's  name,  attire  her  in  boy's  clothing,  have 
her  adopted  into  another  family  with  many  sons 
and  rear  her  exactly  as  though  she  were  a  boy." 

"And  my  fortune,  sir  scholar?" 

"That  matter  will  be  attended  to  in  due  time." 

"It  shall  be  as  you  say,  sir  scholar,"  promised 
Chan. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  was  so  lost  in  meditation 
on  the  past  and  speculation  in  the  future  that  he 
had  completely  forgotten  his  mechanical  croak: 
"Fortunes!    Good  fortunes  for  all!"    He  shud- 


LITTLE  CHICKEN  271 

dered  as  he  recalled  the  long  neglected  bones  of 
his  ancestor  and  the  oath  he  had  taken  upon  the 
chicken's  head.  Yes,  he  had  indeed  lived  the  life 
of  a  chicken,  scratching  and  pecking  in  the  gar- 
bage of  Chinatown  for  years.  But  at  last  the 
wealthy  gambler  had  given  his  confidence  and 
:d  his  purse.  He  would  be  able  to  return  to 
v  Jiddle  Kingdom,  inter  his  father's  bones  in  a 
place  and  placate  the  evil  spirits  that  had 
cursed  and  pursued  him.  A  good  fung  shut  would 
come  to  him,  and  he  would  spend  his  last  days 
in  the  ease  and  luxury  of  a  Mandarin.  Even  if 
lie  lived  like  a  chicken  he  would  not  die  because 
of  a  chicken,  be  killed  like  a  chicken  or  become 
a  chicken  in  the  next  life. 

On  the  twenty-ninth  day  little  Ah  Chut,  her 
head  freshly  shaven,  was  clothed  in  bright-colored 
silks  and  carried  out  upon  the  public  streets  in 
the  arms  of  her  father;  and  Chan  Gow  Doy,  who 
had  seldom  been  heard  to  speak  and  had  never 
been  seen  to  smile,  stopped  all  whom  he  met  to 
laugh  and  to  chat,  saying: 

"Just  look  at  my  fine  boy!" 

He  stood  before  Quan  Quock  Ming,  smiling 
and  whispering: 

"When  I  placed  him  upon  a  quilt  and  offered 
him  many  different  articles  in  order  to  discover 
the  calling  he  will  follow  when  grown  up,  he 
would  not  look  at  the  book,  so  he  is  not  to  be  a 
scholar;  he  would  not  touch  the  abacus,  so  he 
is  not  to  be  a  business  man;  but  what  do  you  think, 


272  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

sir  scholar?  He  stretched  out  both  hands  for 
my  revolver,  so  he  is  to  be  a  fighting  man!" 

Both  laughed  so  long  and  so  loudly  that  many 
people  paused  to  wonder.  As  Quan  Quock  Ming's 
eyes  fell  upon  the  baby's  cap  adorned  with  a 
rooster's  comb  of  red  silk  instead  of  the  custo- 
mary puppy  ears  of  fur,  his  face  grew  grave. 

"What   name   did  you  give?"   he   asked. 

"While  he  was  kicking  on  the  floor  I  threw  a 
poultryman's  net  over  him — be  sure  it  was  a  clean 
one — and  named  him  'Little  Chicken.'  " 

"Hai-i-ie!"  The  fortune-teller  sat  staring  and 
blinking,  muttering  to  himself:  "Guy  Juy!  Guy 
Juy!" 

"Is  that  not  a  good  name  with  which  to  deceive 
the  evil  spirits?"  asked  Chan  Gow  Doy,  but  Quan 
Quock  Ming  merely  shook  his  head  and  clicked 
his  tongue. 


CHAPTER  III 

QUAN  QUOCK  MING'S  REVENGE 

Guy  Juy  spent  more  of  her  time  on  the  streets 
and  in  her  father's  gambling  house  than  in  her 
own  home.  Before  she  was  two  years  old  she 
knew  every  place  in  Chinatown  where  sugar-cane, 
candy  or  sweet  cakes  were  sold — and  she  had 
learned  the  location  of  every  shooting-gallery.  If 
her  father  tried  to  lead  her  past  one  of  them  with- 
out pausing  to  buy  sweetmeats  or  to  listen  to  the 
pop  of  firearms,  she  would  throw  herself  upon  the 
sidewalk,  kick,  scream  and  swear  as  fluently  as 
any  loser  at  his  gaming  tables;  and  whenever  she 
wandered  away — which  was  almost  daily — he 
was  sure  to  find  her  munching  candy  and  listen- 
ing contentedly  to  the  crack  of  pistols. 

On  New  Year's  day  Guy  Juy,  attired  exactly 
like  her  father  in  a  cap  with  a  red  button,  a  blue 
silk  jacket  and  yellow  silk  trousers  tied  at  the 
ankles,  accompanied  him  when  he  made  his  calls, 
strutting  proudly  at  his  side,  bowing  gravely  to 
every  host  and  wishing  great  prosperity  with  a 
lisping  "kung-hee  fat  tsoy!"  Everywhere  she  re- 
ceived the  customary  presents  of  silver  coin 
wrapped  in  red  paper,  trying  vainly  to  estimate 
the  quantity  of  sweetmeats  she  would  be  able  to 

273 


274  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

buy;  and  everywhere  she  was  praised,  petted  and 
indulged  as  the  first-born  son  destined  to  become 
the  successor  of  her  wealthy  father. 

The  last  call  of  the  day  was  made  at  the  home 
of  Quan  Quock  Ming.  Guy  Juy  shrank  from  him 
with  undisguised  aversion,  and  instead  of  the  po- 
lite greeting  she  cursed  him  roundly.  Neither 
Quan's  offering  of  coin  nor  the  threats  of  her 
father  moved  her. 

"You're  a  very  bad  boy,"  said  Quan  shaking 
his  head  and  frowning  at  her,  but  she  merely  stuck 
out  her  tongue  at  him  and  returned  to  her  candy. 

Chan  Gow  Doy  sank  wearily  upon  a  chair, 
bowed  his  head  and  sat  quite  still. 

"Are  you  ill,  younger  brother?"  inquired  Quan 
solicitously. 

"I  am  sick  at  heart,  sir  scholar,"  replied  the 
gambler,  after  a  moment's  hesitation.  "For  al- 
most two  years  I  have  been  very  near  all  the  joy 
that  comes  to  the  father  of  a  son,  pretending — 
always  pretending — to  possess  it,  but  never — 
never — able  to  take  it.  Today — today — as  the 
time  draws  near,  I  am  overwhelmed  with  anx- 
iety. If  the  next  one  be  not  a  son,  sir  scholar,  I 
shall  surely  despair — and  die." 

"Be  patient  and  confident,  younger  brother," 
admonished  Quan  Quock  Ming.  "You  have  done 
all  that  a  man  who  is  engaged  in  a  contest  with 
evil  spirits  can  do.  Still — if  I  had  another  hun- 
dred dollars  to  offer  as  a  sacrifice  at  the  temple, 
it  would  be  timely  and  perhaps  propitiatory." 


QUAN  QUOCK  MING'S  REVENGE    275 

Chan  Gow  Doy  gave  him  the  money  as  readily 
as  he  had  always  given,  but  with  little  hope  that 
the  spirits  would  be  vanquished,  then  took  his  de- 
parture. Quan  unlocked  his  camphbr-wood  chest, 
took  from  it  a  bag  of  gold,  poured  it  upon  the 
table,  ran  his  fingers  through  it  again  and  again, 
then  fell  to  stacking  it  and  counting  it. 

"Ah!"  he  exclaimed.  "A  fortune  already! 
And  if  the  next  one  be  a  son — ah!" 

He  put  the  gold  back  into  the  bag  and  the  bag 
back  into  the  chest,  and  he  had  scarcely  turned 
the  key  upon  it  when  hurried  footsteps  sounded 
upon  the  stairs  and  an  impatient  ring  came  at  his 
door.  When  it  was  opened  Chan  Gow  Doy  burst 
into  the  room. 

"I  have  a  son,  sir  scholar!"  he  shouted.  "At 
last  I  have  a  son!" 

"Sh-h-h!  Not  so  loud,  younger  brother," 
warned  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"Why  can  I  not  shout  it  to  the  world,  sir 
scholar?" 

"The  evil  spirits  may  hear  you,  take  him  from 
you  and  turn  your  moment  of  greatest  happiness 
into  one  of  deepest  grief.  That  is  their  way, 
Chan  Gow  Doy.  You  must  still  be  patient  and 
watchful.  Return  quickly  to  your  home,  close 
the  mouth  of  the  midwife  with  gold  as  you  did 
before,  and  announce  to  your  friends  that  another 
daughter  has  been  born  to  you." 

"Another  daughter!" 

"Yes." 


276  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Aih-yah!  Am  I  never  to  know  the  joy  of  a 
son?" 

"Not  if  he  is  taken  from  you.  Do  as  I  bid 
you?  Otherwise,  I  will  not  undertake  to  answer 
for  the  results." 

"You  have  found  a  son  for  me,  sir  scholar,  and 
I  shall  trust  you  to  preserve  him  to  me.  It  shall 
be  as  you  say." 

And  the  first-born  son  of  Chan  Gow  Doy  be- 
came the  last  born  daughter,  and  was  given  no 
name,  but  called  No.  8. 

Guy  Juy,  as  the  petted  and  pampered  son  of 
the  house  of  Chan,  scarcely  knew  the  meaning 
of  a  wish  denied.  The  idolatrous  parents  were 
her  obedient  servants,  the  despised  daughters  of 
the  family  her  absolute  slaves.  So  when  the  mid- 
wife refused  to  give  her  the  baby  to  play  with 
she  flew  into  a  passion  that  nothing  would  as- 
suage. She  threw  herself  upon  the  floor,  kicked, 
screamed,  cursed  and  bumped  her  head  till  she 
was  exhausted,  then  listened  sullenly  to  bribe- 
offerings  of  unheard-of  quantities  of  candies, 
cakes  and  firecrackers,  only  to  burst  into  an- 
other paroxysm  the  moment  she  recovered  suffi- 
cient strength  and  breath.  Every  trick  and  every 
artifice  that  her  parents  could  think  of  was  em- 
ployed, but  nothing  would  swerve  her  for  an  in- 
stant from  the  determination  to  have  Ah  Bot;  so 
at  last  in  sheer  desperation  her  father  told  her  she 
could  have  the  baby  all  for  her  own,  first  exacting 
a  promise  from  her  that  she  would  be  very  care- 


QUAN  QUOCK  MING'S  REVENGE    277 

ful  of  her  little  sister  and  never  feed  her  candy 
or  peanuts. 

Guy  Juy  and  Ah  Bot  became  inseparable.  She 
soon  learned  to  give  the  baby  his  bottle,  and  he 
would  take  it  from  no  other.  When  his  teeth 
began  to  come  and  he  grew  peevish  and  fretful 
no  hand  but  Guy  Juy's  could  rock  his  cradle,  no 
ringer  but  hers  could  rub  his  aching  gums.  It 
was  Guy  Juy  who  taught  him  to  walk  and  first 
guided  him  to  the  candy  shops,  where  she  drove 
bargains  with  the  dealers  and  explained  that  she 
was  Chan  Gow  Doy's  boy,  and  Ah  Bot  was  her 
little  sister. 

Together  they  roved  the  streets  and  alleys 
of  Chinatown  in  search  of  adventure,  pausing  to 
pull  feathers  from  the  chickens  in  the  poultry- 
men's  coops,  to  make  grimaces  at  the  old  pipe- 
mender  on  the  corner  or  to  steal  rides  on  passing 
trucks;  but  Guy  Juy  was  always  careful  to  avoid 
the  stand  of  the  old  fortune-teller,  whose  sinister 
smile  or  savage  frown  filled  her  with  fear  and 
aversion.  She  guided  Ah  Bot  into  the  shopping 
district  of  the  city,  where  he  stared  wide-eyed  and 
wondering  at  the  foreign  devils  and  into  the  shop 
windows,  clinging  in  bewilderment  to  Guy  Juy's 
hand.  And  once  with  money  she  found  in  her 
mother's  cupboard  she  took  him  by  ferry-boat  and 
train  to  the  city  across  the  bay,  bought  all  the 
candies  and  cakes  they  could  carry,  spent  the  en- 
tire afternoon  practicing  in  a  shooting-gallery, 
and  when  night  came  sat  in  a  doorway  consoling 


278  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

Ah  Bot  till  the  police  found  them  and  sent  them 
home. 

As  Guy  Juy  grew  older  she  played  shuttle-cock 
In  the  alleys,  fought  with  the  boys  of  the  quarter 
and  threw  stones  at  little  foreign  devils  who  wan- 
dered into  Chinatown.  In  all  of  her  deviltry  Ah 
Bot  was  a  silent  and  passive  accessory,  sticking 
close  to  Guy  Juy's  side,  running  when  she  ran, 
stopping  when  she  stopped,  and  always  looking 
up  to  his  big  brother  with  pride.  And  for  once 
Chinatown  was  unanimous  in  an  opinion — Guy 
Juy  was  a  very  bad  boy;  but  whenever  some 
indignant  victim  of  her  pranks  expressed  that 
opinion  to  Chan  Gow  Doy,  he  would  smile  and 
answer : 

"Oh,  boys  will  be  boys." 

Guy  Juy  had  one  hero — Wong  Kit,  the  son  of 
a  merchant — a  lithe  wiry  lad,  gentle  in  speech 
and  manner  till  he  was  roused  and  then  a  tiger  in 
temper  and  courage.  He  was  feared  and  avoided 
by  the  other  boys,  and  held  himself  aloof  from 
them,  but  conceived  a  great  liking  for  little  Guy 
Juy.  And  she  was  never  happier  than  when  sit- 
ting by  his  side  on  a  door-step  in  the  dusk  of 
the  evening  listening  to  tales  of  highbinder  wars 
and  the  prowess  of  hatchetmen. 

"And  some  day,"  he  often  said  to  her,  "you 
and  I  will  be  great  fighting  men  together." 

Guy  Juy,  fired  with  that  ambition,  watched  a 
chance  to  steal  her  father's  revolver,  terrified 
her  sisters  with  it,  threatened  them  with  instant 


//  was  the  afternoon  before  Chinese  New  Year  and  under 
the  influence  of  the  worm  February  sun  Quatl  Quock 
Mini)  fell  into  a  doer ." 279 


QUAN  QUOCK  MING'S  REVENGE    279 

death  if  they  told  her  father  and  carried  the 
weapon  in  the  waist-band  of  her  trousers  till 
the  bulge  beneath  her  blouse  attracted  attention 
and  prompted  the  search  that  discovered  it. 

Though  Chan  Gow  Doy's  face  wore  a  smile 
his  heart  was  filled  with  misgivings. 

"What  can  I  do  about  it,  sir  scholar?"  he  asked 
of  Quan  Quock  Ming  during  one  of  their  frequent 
consultations.  "My  girl  has  become  a  very  bad 
boy,  and  my  son  is  becoming  a  very  good  girl." 

"Wait,  younger  brother — wait,"  admonished 
the  fortune-teller.  "When  the  time  comes  you 
shall  have  a  good  son  and  a  valuable  daugh- 
ter." 

It  was  the  afternoon  before  Chinese  New 
Year  and  under  the  influence  of  the  warm  Feb- 
ruary sun  Quan  Quock  Ming,  sitting  at  his  little 
table  on  the  street  corner,  fell  into  a  doze.  When 
his  chin  dropped  upon  his  chest  he  started  and  sat 
bolt  upright  for  a  moment,  rubbed  his  eyes  and 
remembered  that  prosperity  had  relieved  him  of 
the  necessity  of  watching  for  prospective  patrons. 
He  planted  his  elbows  upon  the  table,  rested  his 
fat  face  in  his  hands,  closed  his  eyes  and  was 
soon  slumbering  peacefully. 

Guy  Juy,  passing  warily,  heard  him  snore, 
paused  and  grinned.  She  drew  a  stout  cord  from 
her  trousers  pocket,  tied  one  end  of  it  to  a  leg  of 
the  table,  slipped  around  the  corner,  braced  her- 
self, gave  the  string  a  jerk  and  ran.  The  table 
flew  from  under  the  old  fortune-teller,  and  he 


280  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

sprawled  upon  the  sidewalk;  but  his  pursuit  was 
unexpectedly  swift  and  sudden.  Guy  Juy,  turn- 
ing to  look  back,  stumbled  over  a  chicken  coop 
and  escaped  capture  only  by  rolling  under  a 
wagon  and  scrambling  out  on  the  other  side. 

"You  little  she-devil!"  roared  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  as  he  stood  at  the  edge  of  the  sidewalk 
shaking  his  fist  at  her.  uWait!  Wait!  I  will 
fix  you!" 

Guy  Juy  put  her  thumb  to  her  nose,  wagged 
her  fingers  derisively  and  scampered  away  to 
watch  the  preparations  for  the  approaching  fes- 
tivities. 

Confectioners  were  heaping  stacks  of  sweet- 
meats upon  their  counters,  and  merchants  were 
wrapping  coins  in  red  papers,  while  their  em- 
ployees wove  ropes  of  fire-crackers  and  put  up 
decorations.  Creditors  were  pursuing  debtors, 
and  debtors  were  dodging  creditors  on  this  day 
of  accounting,  and  when  they  met  there  were 
many  altercations  and  a  few  fights.  With  the 
coming  of  darkness  crackers  began  to  pop  at  in- 
tervals here  and  there,  like  the  desultory  firing 
of  the  old  year's  pickets  being  driven  in,  quickly 
followed  by  the  crash  of  musketry  at  close  quar- 
ters, now  dying  down,  now  breaking  out  afresh 
and  dying  again;  and,  at  last,  the  silence  that 
told  of  the  death  of  the  old  year. 

Guy  Juy  was  in  the  thick  of  it  all  from  begin- 
ning to  end,  even  forgetting  to  go  home  for  the 
evening  meal,   missing  nothing,   enjoying  every- 


QUAN  QUOCK  MING'S  REVENGE    281 

thing,  laughing,  shouting  and  fighting  with  the 
boys  of  the  street  over  the  possession  of  unex- 
ploded  crackers;  and  when  she  climbed  the  stairs 
of  her  home,  grimy,  happy  and  breathless  with 
the  excitement  of  it  all,  a  new  joy  awaited  her. 
The  fine  clothing  to  be  worn  by  the  members  of 
the  family  on  the  morrow  was  spread  out  on  the 
chairs  of  the  living-room — rich  embroideries  for 
the  girls,  and  green  silk  trousers  that  tied  at  the 
ankles  and  a  purple  silk  blouse  for  Guy  Juy. 

"You  may  put  them  on  now,"  said  the  mother, 
and  all  scampered  away  to  dress  themselves  in 
their  holiday  attire. 

"Aih-yah !"  cried  Guy  Juy,  as  she  strutted  about 
with  her  hands  tucked  in  her  long  sleeves.  "Don't 
you  wish  you  were  boys,  so  you  could  always  do 
exactly  as  you  please?  Hai-ie!  You  are  only 
good-for-nothing  girls  dressed  for  the  market  like 
pigs,  and  have  to  sit  around  home  waiting  for 
someone  to  buy  you !  Don't  you  wish  you  could 
make  New  Year  calls  on  merchants,  drink  rice 
wine  and  get  presents  of  silver?  And  when  I  am 
old  enough  I  shall  be  a  fighting  man!'* 

The  older  girls  frowned  and  angry  retorts  rose 
to  their  lips,  but  their  mother  scowled  at  them  and 
shook  her  head. 

Guy  Juy  was  calculating  the  amount  of  money 
she  would  receive  on  the  morrow,  wondering  if 
it  would  be  enough  to  pay  for  a  revolver,  when  a 
ring  came  at  the  door,  and  Quan  Quock  Ming  en- 
tered, red  in  the  face  with  anger  and  the  exertion 


282  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

of  climbing  the  stairs.  He  stopped  when  his  eyes 
fell  upon  Guy  Juy,  and  he  stood  glaring  at  her 
malevolently  till  he  could  get  his  breath.  With 
the  prank  of  the  afternoon  still  fresh  in  her  mind 
she  slipped  to  her  father's  side  for  protection. 
Quan  Quock  Ming  turned  to  Chan  Gow  Doy  and 
raising  his  hands  high  above  his  head  roared: 

"The  time  has  come,  Chan  Gow  Doy!  The 
time  has  come!"  Then  he  strode  across  the  room 
and  shook  a  fat  finger  in  Guy  Juy's  face.  "I  made 
a  boy  of  you,  and  now  I  shall  make  a  girl  of 
you!"  he  bellowed. 

"You  shan't!  You  can't!"  cried  Guy  Juy  with 
an  oath.     "I  won't  be  a  girl!" 

For  the  first  time  in  her  life  she  felt  the  weight 
of  her  father's  hand.  A  buffet  on  the  side  of  the 
head  sent  her  sprawling  upon  the  floor. 

"Let  that  teach  you  the  respect  that  is  due 
your  elders!"  he  roared.  ''You  are  a  girl!  You 
have  always  been  a  girl — and  you  shall  remain  a 
girl !  Garb  and  comport  yourself  accordingly,  or 
you  shall  be  well  beaten." 

On  the  morning  of  the  New  Year  Guy  Juy, 
dressed  in  the  cast-off  clothing  of  an  elder  sister, 
her  forehead  shaven  like  a  boy's,  sat  in  sullen 
silence  listening  to  the  taunts  and  jeers  of  her  el- 
der sisters  while  they  attired  themselves  for  the 
holiday. 

"Look  at  the  boy  girl!"  exclaimed  one. 

"No;  that  is  a  girl  boy!"  laughed  another. 

Ah  Bot,  attired  in  a  yellow  silk  blouse  and  blue 


QUAN  QUOCK  MING'S  REVENGE    283 

silk  trousers,  his  head  freshly  shaven  and  his 
queue  carefully  braided,  came  to  bid  Guy  Juy 
good-bye  before  departing  with  his  father  to  pay 
the  New  Year  calls.  ** 

"Where  is  Guy  Juy?"  he  asked. 

"Aih-yah!"  laughed  one  of  his  sisters.  "There 
is  no  Guy  Juy;  but  there  is  Ah  Chut!" 

"See !"  cried  another.  "The  great  fighting  man 
is  only  the  seventh  pig!" 

Guy  Juy  flew  at  them  in  a  frenzy  of  rage,  curs- 
ing, scratching,  kicking  and  biting,  till  she  was 
overpowered  by  her  sisters  and  beaten  by  her 
parents.  And  they  flung  her  into  a  corner  like  a 
bundle  of  old  rags,  locked  the  door  upon  her  and 
left  her  to  her  own  meditations. 


CHAPTER  IVi 

THE  BOY  GIRL 

Anyone  who,  for  thirteen  years,  has  enjoyed 
all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  an  only  son 
in  a  large  family,  who  has  been  the  tyrant  of  the 
household  and  the  terror  of  Chinatown,  ruling 
the  home  inflexibly  and  roving  the  streets  unre- 
strainedly, only  to  be  suddenly  cuffed  and  cursed 
by  parents  who  had  always  been  indulgent  and 
jeered  by  sisters  who  had  always  been  respectful 
and  obedient,  locked  within  doors  that  had  al- 
ways opened  to  the  lightest  knock  and — worst  of 
all — told  that  she  was  not  Guy  Juy,  the  first-born 
son,  but  merely  Ah  Chut,  a  nameless  daughter — 
anyone  less  spirited  and  rebellious  would  have 
been  completely  crushed.  But  Ah  Chut  was  only 
stunned.  When  her  family  bolted  the  door  upon 
her  she  spat  after  them  and  cried  vehemently: 

"I  shan't  be  a  girl!     I  shan't!" 

She  ran  to  the  window  and  saw  not  Ah  Bot, 
the  little  sister  whom  she  had  loved  and  pro- 
tected from  babyhood,  but  Chew  Doo,  a  boy  with 
freshly  shaven  head,  going  reluctantly  with  his 
father  to  pay  the  holiday  calls,  and  heard  him 
crying: 

284 


THE  BOY  GIRL  285 

"I  don't  want  to  be  a  boy!" 

Ah  Chut  sat  down  to  ponder  upon  the  sudden 
metamorphosis  that  had  robbed  her  of  her  name 
and  sex,  that  had  overthrown  her  little  despotism 
and  had  transformed  Ah  Bot,  the  seventh  daugh- 
ter, into  Chew  Doo,  the  Glory  of  his  ancestors, 
the  first-born  son  of  the  house  of  Chan.  It  meant 
that  she  must  sit  at  home  and  learn  to  ply  the 
needle  instead  of  roaming  the  streets  and  prac- 
ticing the  use  of  the  revolver;  that  she  must  be  a 
household  drudge  instead  of  a  fighting  man  of  the 
Bing  Kung  tong;  that  she  could  never  go  out  of 
the  house  again  unless  accompanied  by  her  mother 
or  an  elder  sister;  that  she  must  then  walk  with 
mincing  steps,  keeping  her  eyes  modestly  cast 
down  when  she  passed  the  contemptuous  loungers 
on  the  street  corners;  that  she  would  not  be  the 
natural  successor  of  her  wealthy  and  influential 
father,  but  merely  one  of  his  possessions,  to  be 
sold  as  three  elder  sisters  had  been. 

"I  shan't  be  a  girl!"  she  cried  again,  then  flung 
herself  upon  her  bed  and  burst  into  a  flood  of 
tears. 

Her  first  paroxysm  of  rage  and  grief  had  near- 
ly spent  itself  before  she  remembered  that  only 
girls  wept.  She-  quickly  smothered  her  sobs, 
sprang  up  and  cried  again  and  again: 

"I  shan't!     I  shan't!" 

She  looked  about  her  for  means  of  escape  from 
the  humiliation  and  misery  of  it  all,  thinking  only 
of  flight — just  flight,  swift  and  immediate,  with 


286  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

no  thought  of  anything  that  lay  beyond.  As  she 
crossed  the  room  toward  the  window  she  caught 
a  glimpse  of  her  shaven  forehead  in  a  mirror  and 
stopped.  That  would  not  do.  Everywhere  a  boy 
in  girl's  clothing  would  attract  attention  that 
would  inevitably  result  in  speedy  capture  and  re- 
turn. She  made  a  quick  search  for  an  old  suit 
of  her  own  and  found  one  that  she  had  outgrown 
— but  it  would  suffice.  She  tore  off  the  clothing 
that  had  been  forced  upon  her,  donned  the  boyish 
attire,  climbed  out  on  the  fire-escape  and  was 
scrambling  down  the  narrow  ladder  when  an  old 
woman  across  the  alley  stuck  her  head  out  the 
window,  stared  at  her  in  amazement  and 
screamed: 

"Hai-ie!  What  are  you  doing  in  boy's  cloth- 
ing, Ah  Chut?  Aren't  you  ashamed  of  your- 
self?" 

Ah  Chut  stopped  abruptly,  hung  her  head  and 
climbed  slowly  back.  It  was  hopeless.  Everyone 
had  heard  of  her  disgrace,  and  everywhere  she 
would  be  recognized,  not  as  Guy  Juy,  the  son  of 
Chan  Gow  Doy,  but  as  Ah  Chut,  his  daughter. 
She  crept  back  into  her  room,  changed  her  cloth- 
ing, threw  herself  upon  her  bed  and  cried  herself 
to  sleep. 

Ah  Chut  remained  steadfastly  in  the  seclusion 
of  her  home,  enduring  taunts,  jeers  and  blows 
in  dogged  silence  rather  than  suffer  the  humilia- 
tion of  appearing  on  the  public  streets,  and  Chew 
JDoo,  who  had  been  almost  her  sole  companion 


THE  BOY  GIRL  287 

and  always  her  confidant,  sought  every  oppor- 
tunity to  be  with  her.  The  timid,  shrinking  lad 
had  found  his  boyhood  almost  as  insufferable  as 
Ah  Chut  had  her  girlhood,  for  the  men  in  the 
streets  laughed  at  him  and  teased  him,  the  other 
boys  chased  him  and  threw  stones  at  him,  and 
everyone  told  him  that  he  was  nothing  but  a  girl 
in  boy's  clothing.  Whenever  they  found  them- 
selves alone  in  the  house  they  resumed  the  garb 
of  their  choice  and  played  that  Ah  Chut  was  Guy 
Juy,  the  boy,  and  Chew  Doo  was  Ah  Bot,  the  girl; 
and  often  at  night  they  would  climb  up  the  fire- 
escape  and  scamper  over  the  roofs  of  the  houses 
in  the  block.  But  even  that  diversion — Ah  Chut's 
only  pleasure — was  taken  from  her  when  their 
father  returned  unexpectedly  one  night  and  caught 
them  at  their  play. 

"Hai-ie!"  he  bellowed.  "Are  you  determined 
to  bring  disgrace  upon  the  whole  family?  Do 
you  want  to  degrade  the  only  son  of  the  house 
of  Chan  by  making  a  girl  of  him  ?  Who  then  will 
perpetuate  the  family  name  and  be  the  glory  of  his 
ancestors?" 

He  gave  her  a  beating  and  forbade  her  even  to 
speak  to  Chew  Doo,  but  they  often  found  means 
of  conversing  secretly,  and  always  Ah  Chut  would 
put  her  arms  around  him  and  say: 

"Even  if  I  cannot  be  a  boy,  Chew  Doo,  you 
must  be  a  worthy  son." 

By  the  time  the  hair  had  grown  long  upon  Ah 
Chut's  forehead  she  had  learned — mainly  by  lis- 


288  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

tening  at  keyholes — the  whole  story  of  the  deceit 
that  had  been  practiced  upon  her  and  the  evil 
spirits.  Toward  her  parents  she  felt  no  great 
resentment,  for  they  had  but  followed  the  advice 
of  the  old  fortune-teller  in  order  to  protect  her 
brother  against  malign  influences;  but  the  aver- 
sion that  she  had  always  felt  toward  Quan  Quock 
Ming  grew  into  bitterest  hatred.  Every  day, 
and  a  dozen  times  a  day,  she  would  stop  at  her 
window,  from  which  she  could  see  him  sitting  on 
his  stool  at  the  street  corner,  scowl  at  him,  gnaw 
her  finger-nails  in  impotent  rage  and  reiterate  a 
vow  of  vengeance.  She  meditated  slipping  out  in 
the  night-time  and  setting  fire  to  his  house,  but  re- 
flected that  her  own  home,  which  was  in  the  same 
block,  and  possibly  the  whole  Chinese  quarter, 
would  be  endangered.  Whenever  she  could  get 
possession  of  her  father's  revolver  she  would  rest 
it  on  the  window  sill  and  draw  a  careful  bead  upon 
him.  As  good  a  marksman  as  she  was,  she  knew 
thedistance  was  too  great  to  leave  the  result  of  a 
shot  beyond  question,  or  she  would  have  fired. 
Instead  she  would  take  the  cartridges  out,  aim 
again  and  pull  the  trigger,  and  in  her  imagina- 
tion she  could  hear  the  crash  of  the  explosion  and 
see  him  sprawl  upon  the  sidewalk. 

She  thought  of  lying  in  wait  and  shooting 
him  from  a  doorway,  but  she  must  have  some  one 
to  warn  her  of  the  approach  of  the  police  so  that 
escape  would  be  certain.  She  suggested  it  to 
Chew  Doo,  but  he  trembled  at  the  thought  of  vio- 


THE  GIRL  BOY  289 

lencc  and  death  and  begged  her  to  dismiss  it  from 
her  mind.  There  was  only  one  other — Wong  Kit, 
the  hero  of  her  boyhood  days.  Had  he  not  often 
told  her  that  some  day  they  would  be  fighting  men 
together?  So  she  watched  at  the  window  for 
him,  and  when  she  saw  him  passing  beneath  it 
called  to  him.  He  stopped,  glanced  up,  saw  a 
strange  girl  looking  down  at  him,  spat  contemptu- 
ously and  walked  on.  Ah  Chut  turned  away  in 
disappointment  and  chagrin,  but  some  day  in  some 
way,  she  knew  not  when  or  how,  she  would  be  re- 
venged upon  Quan  Quock  Ming.  Upon  that  she 
was  determined 


CHAPTER  V 

AN  ACCOUNTING  DEMANDED 

Quan  Quock  Ming  had  finished  the  evening 
meal,  the  dishes  had  been  cleared  away,  and  he 
was  sitting  at  the  table  with  an  abacus,  an  ac- 
count-book and  stacks  of  gold  coins  before  him. 
When  he  had  finished  checking  up  and  had  struck 
the  total,  he  smiled  and  rubbed  his  hands  with 
satisfaction,  for  it  ran  well  into  five  figures.  Then 
he  drew  from  its  envelope  a  large  document  bear- 
ing the  enormous  seal  of  Chan  Gow  Doy,  read  it 
carefully  and  pondered. 

"Everything  —  everything  he  has  —  in  my 
hands  1"  he  mused.  "The  evil  spirits  certainly 
will  never  be  able  to  get  it — but  how  can  I  man- 
age to  keep  it?" 

A  ring  came  at  the  door,  and  he  barely  had  time 
to  lock  his  documents  and  gold  in  his  camphor- 
wood  chest  before  Chan  Gow  Doy  was  shown 
in. 

"Ha !  Long  life  and  great  happiness,  younger 
brother !"  greeted  Quan. 

Chan  Gow  Doy  frowned. 

"You  will  have  neither,"  he  said,  "if  you  do 
not  return  my  fortune  to  me  at  once." 

290 


AN  ACCOUNTING  DEMANDED     291 

"Hai-i-ie!"  exclaimed  the  fortune-teller.  uIs 
that  the  way  you  talk  to  your  friend  and  adviser?" 

"You  have  been  well  paid  for  both  your  friend- 
ship and  advice — well  paid,  Quan  Quock  Ming — 
but  I  im  not  to  be  stripped  like  a  beef  bone,1' 
replied  Chan  Gow  Doy. 

"And  is  that  not  what  I  am  protecting  you 
against,  younger  brother?"  protested  Quan. 

"I  am  able  to  protect  myself,  Quan  Quock 
Ming." 

"Against  evil  spirits?  Who  is  able  to  do 
that?"  Quan  shook  his  head.  "No;  it  cannot  be 
done,  except  by  one  who  knows  their  ways." 

"Do  you  also  hold  written  powers  from  the 
evil  spirits?  Are  you  their  friend  and  adviser — 
or  merely  their  instrument?"  demanded  Chan. 

"Hai-ie !  How  can  you  say  such  things,  Chan 
Gow  Doy?  Have  I  not  been  their  enemy  for 
years?  Have  I  not  protected  you  against  them? 
Did  I  not  outwit  them  when  they  had  decided 
that  you  were  not  to  have  a  son?" 

"Have  you  not  been  well  paid  for  all  that  you 
did?  Have  I  not  always  given  you  whatever  you 
asked?" 

"To  be  sure,  younger  brother.  Was  not  my 
advice  worth  all  that  you  paid  for  it?" 

"Yes,"  admitted  Chan  Gow  Doy,  "but  that  is 
no  reason  why  you  should  defraud  me  of  my 
whole  fortune." 

"Defraud  you!  Hai-ie!"  and  Quan  started  up 
angrily. 


i92  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Rob  me,  then." 

Quan  fell  back  on  his  stool,  shook  his  head 
and  clicked  his  tongue. 

"Certainly  you  must  be  possessed  of  an  evil 
spirit,  Chan  Gow  Doy,  to  use  such  language 
toward  one  who  has  always  been  your  best  friend 
— one  who  has  always  regarded  you  as  a  younger 
brother.  Why  did  you  place  everything  in  my 
hands?  To  preserve  it,  of  course.  You  know 
very  well  that  the  evil  spirits  gave  you  wealth, 
only  to  deal  you  a  heavier  blow — when  they  take 
it  away  again  at  the  time  of  your  greatest  need. 
Have  I  not  kept  it  safely  for  you?" 

"You  have  kept  it,"  admitted  Chan  Gow  Doy, 
"and  you  are  still  keeping  it,  though  I  have  de- 
manded its  return  many  times." 

"And  have  you  not  always  managed  your  af- 
fairs as  though  your  fortune  were  your  own?" 

"Is  it  not?" 

"Sh-h-h!  Not  so  loud,"  admonished  Quan 
Quock  Ming.  "The  evil  spirits  may  hear  you 
and  take  it  from  you.  Of  course  it  is  yours — 
in  substance — but  mine  in  form.  The  paper  you 
gave  conveying  it  all  to  me  means  nothing  to  any 
one — except  the  spirits.  They  think  the  property 
is  mine  and  dare  not  meddle  with  it." 

trAnd  you  think  it  is  yours  and  don't  want  me 
to  meddle  with  it — but  I  want  it.    I  may  die." 

"In  that  case,  younger  brother,  it  will  be  re- 
turned to  your  family." 

"If  I  cannot  procure  its  return  while  I  am  still 


AN  ACCOUNTING  DEMANDED      293 

living,  I  surely  could  not  do  it  when  I  am  dead. 
Give  me  the  paper,  Quan  Quock  Ming." 

"But  reflect,"  argued  the  fortune-teller.  "If 
the  evil  spirits  should  take  it  from  you  while  you 
are  living,  your  family  will  have  nothing  when 
you  are  dead.  Think  of  the  risks  you  are  tak- 
ing." 

"I  am  thinking  of  the  risk  I  have  taken,"  re- 
plied Chan.  "It  makes  little  difference,  so  far  as 
my  family  is  concerned,  whether  you  or  the  evil 
spirits  take  it  from  me.  Give  me  the  paper,  Quan 
Quock  Ming." 

"Do  you  demand  it?" 

"Have  I  not  done  so  many  times?  Give  it  to 
me." 

"Then,"  said  Quan  decisively,  "I  on  my  part 
demand  an  accounting." 

"An  accounting!" 

"Yes.  Have  I  not  held  your  written  authority 
for  fifteen  years?" 

"Yes — as  a  matter  of  form." 

"And  have  you  not  said  many  times  that  you 
would  give  all  you  possessed  to  have  a  son?" 

"Yes — if  it  were  necessary." 

"And  through  my  advice  you  found  a  son. 
Lawfully  I  could  claim  it  all,  but  I  am  not  only 
just — I  am  generous,  and  I  shall  make  a  fair 
compromise  with  you.  You  shall  pay  me  ten  per 
cent  of  all  profits  for  the  fifteen  years  that  it  has 
been  in  my  hands — just  as  though  you  had  re- 
turned to  China,  and  I  had  acted  as  your  agent." 


294  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Compromise!  I  shall  not  pay  one  cent!" 
roared  Chan  Gow  Doy. 

"Then  I  shall  keep  every  cent,"  replied  Quan 
Quock  Ming,  firmly. 

-"Give  me  that  paper!"  demanded  Chan.     He 
advanced  menacingly  upon  Quan. 

"I  shall  give  you  nothing.  Get  out  of  my 
house!" 

"Give  it  to  me!" 

Chan  Gow  Doy  sprang  upon  him,  seized  him 
by  his  fat  throat  and  tried  to  throttle  him.  Stools 
were  overturned,  the  table  was  upset  and  the 
k/erosene  lamp  crashed  to  the  floor  and  went 
out.  One  of  Quan's  wives,  alarmed  by  the  sounds 
of  the  struggle,  threw  open  a  window  and  blew  a 
police  whistle.  A  passing  patrolman  ran  up  the 
stairs,  burst  in  the  door  and  pulled  the  combat- 
ants apart. 

"He  first  tried  to  rob  me — then  murder  me!" 
cried  Quan  Quock  Ming,  when  an  interpreter 
had  been  called.  "I  have  a  weak  heart,  and  this 
will  surely  kill  me !" 

The  policeman  recognized  them  both,  put  Chan 
out  of  the  house  and  told  Quan  to  apply  for  a 
warrant  if  he  wished  his  assailant  arrested. 


CHAPTER  VI 

GLORY  OF  HIS  ANCESTORS 

The  elders  of  the  clan  of  Chan,  called  in  con- 
ference at  the  home  of  Chan  Gow  Doy,  sat  lis- 
tening to  his  complaint.  He  told  them  all  that 
had  passed  between  him  and  Quan  Quock  Ming 
from  the  time,  seventeen  years  before,  when  he 
had  first  sought  advice  from  the  fortune-teller. 

"I  called  a  meeting  of  the  Six  Companies,"  he 
said  in  conclusion,  "laid  the  whole  matter  before 
them  and  demanded  justice,  but  Quan  Quock 
Ming  was  there  with  a  lot  of  fighting  men  from 
the  Suey  Sing  tong  at  his  back  to  shout  and  to 
threaten,  so  the  directors  dared  do  nothing  but 
shake  their  heads  and  recommend  a  compromise. 
Now  what  is  to  be  done  about  it?" 

"You  should  join  the  Bing  Kung  tong  and  get 
its  fighting  men  behind  you,"  advised  one  of 
Chan's  clansmen. 

"I  thought  of  that  and  spoke  of  it  to  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Bing  Kung  tong"  said  Chan. 

"What  did  he  say?" 

"He  said  that  though  the  Bing  Kungs  and  Suey 
Sings  were  often  at  war  with  one  another,  it 
would  not  look  well  for  either  to  meddle  in  the 
controversy  of  one  who  was  not  a   member — 

295 


296  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

that  it  would  look  much  like  buying  trouble.  Quan 
Quock  Ming  is  a  member  of  the  Suey  Sings,  while 
I  belong  to  no  tong" 

"You  should  have  joined  one  long  ago — for 
protection.'* 

"I  did  not  need  it,  for  I  have  always  paid  the 
foreign  devils'  police  for  it — and  have  received 
it." 

"But  in  such  a  matter  they  can  do  nothing," 
said  another.  "Why  don't  you  buy  a  lawyer 
and  take  the  matter  into  the  courts  of  the  foreign 
devils?" 

"I  have  also  considered  that,"  replied  Chan 
Gow  Doy,  ubut  Quan  Quock  Ming  would  bring 
a  hundred  men  from  the  Suey  tong  to  take  oath 
that  they  had  heard  me  promise  to  give  him  all 
that  I  possessed." 

"But  you  can  get  a  hundred  men  from  the  clan 
of  Chan  to  swear  they  had  heard  him  say  that 
the  paper  you  gave  him  was  merely  to  fool  the 
evil  spirits,"  declared  one  of  the  elders. 

"I  told  that  to  the  lawyer  I  consulted,  and  he 
said  that  in  such  a  case  the  magistrate  would  be- 
lieve neither  side  and  leave  matters  as  they 
were." 

"Hai-ie !  He  would  not  take  the  word  of  hon- 
est merchants  against  the  lying  statements  of  tong 
men?  How  wicked!"  and  all  shook  their  heads 
and  clicked  their  tongues. 

"The  lawyer  told  me  there  was  but  one  way  to 
proceed,"  added  Chan.     "He  said  that  if  I  could 


GLORY  OF  HIS  ANCESTORS       297 

get  the  paper  back  from  him,  he  would  have  to 
prove  everything,  or  the  magistrate  would  do 
nothing." 

"How  can  that  be  accomplished?"  asked  one 
of  the  elders. 

"It  cannot  be  done,"  declared  Chan  Gow  Doy. 
"He  keeps  it  locked  in  his  camphor-wood  chest. 
I  have  hired  men  to  go  to  his  house  at  night  and 
take  it  from  him  by  force,  but  they  cannot  gain 
admission.  No;  there  is  but  one  way  to  deal  with 
such  a  man.  I  have  lost  my  fortune,  but  he  shall 
lose  his  life.  I  will  offer  a  reward  to  all  of  the 
fighting  men  in  Chinatown,  and  some  one  will 
surely  accept  it  secretly." 

"Hi  low!" 

The  elders  nodded  emphatically  in  approval 
and  took  their  departure. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  seated  himself  at  his  table, 
turned  the  lamp  a  little  higher,  picked  up  the 
Analects  of  Confucius  and  turned  the  pages  to  the 
Fourth  Book. 

"It  is  social  good  feeling  that  gives  charm  to  a 
neighborhood,"  he  read,  half  aloud.  "And  where 
is  the  wisdom  of  those  who  choose  an  abode  where 
it  does  not  abide?  Those  who  are  without  it 
cannot  abide  long,  either  in  straitened  or  happy 
circumstances.  Those  who  possess  it  find  content- 
ment in  it.  Those  who  are  wise  go  after  it  as  men 
go  after  gain." 

Quan  nodded  his  approval.     "What  a  foolish 


298  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

man  Chan  Gow  Doy  is,  that  he  cannot  be  con- 
tent," he  soliloquized,  and  resumed  his  reading. 
"Riches  and  honor  are  what  men  desire;  but  if 
they  arrive  at  them  by  improper  ways,  they  should 
not  continue  to  hold  them." 

"That  is  quite  true,"  and  again  he  nodded. 
"Chan  Gow  Doy  became  wealthy  through  the 
losses  of  others  at  his  gambling  tables,  therefore 
he  should  not  continue  to  hold  his  wealth.  I  have 
really  done  him  a  great  service  in  depriving  him 
of  it." 

"The  masterly  man  has  an  eye  to  virtue,"  he 
read,  "the  common  man  to  earthly  things;  the 
former  has  an  eye  to  penalties  for  error — the 
latter,  to  favor.  Where  there  is  habitual  going 
after  gain,  there  is  much  ill  will.  Men  of  loftier 
minds  manifest  themselves  in  their  equitable  deal- 
ings; small-minded  men  in  their  going  after  gain." 

"Ha !  Quite  true !"  mused  Quan  Quock  Ming. 
"Chan  Gow  Doy  is  a  very  small-minded  man  of 
much  ill  will,  so  he  should  suffer  the  penalty  of  his 


error." 


A  ring  at  the  door  startled  Quan.  One  of  his 
wives  entered  the  kitchen  and  looked  at  him 
questioningly. 

"Find  out  who  it  is  before  you  open  the  door," 
he  ordered. 

"Who  is  there?"  she  called. 

"A  girl,"  replied  the  one  seeking  admittance. 

"Be  sure  that  it  is  a  girl  and  not  a  fighting  man 
in  disguise,"  warned  Quan  Quock  Ming. 


GLORY  OF  HIS  ANCESTORS       299 

His  wife  slid  a  little  panel  at  the  side  of  the 
door  and  peered  out. 

"Stand  back  in  the  light  so  that  I  may  see 
you,"  she  ordered.  "It  is  really  a  girl,"  she  said 
to  Quan,  after  she  had  scrutinized  the  visitor. 

"Who  is  she?" 

"She  is  a  stranger  to  me." 

"Ask  her  what  she  wants." 

"Let  me  in — quick!"  cried  the  girl,  before  she 
could  be  questioned.  "I  have  run  away  and  seek 
shelter." 

"Admit  her,"  ordered  Quan  at  once. 

He  noted  at  a  glance  the  girl's  fine  attire — 
such  as  is  usually  worn  by  slaves  at  banquets  and 
occasionally  by  daughters  of  wealthy  men  on  holi- 
days. 

"Hide  me!  Quick!  Hide  me!"  she  cried  as 
she  hurried  into  the  room,  her  face  half-concealed 
by  the  embroidered  handkerchief  she  carried  in 
her  hand. 

"Who  are  you?"  demanded  Quan  bruskly. 

"I  am  a  slave  girl  who  has  run  away,"  she  re- 
plied.    "Help  me!" 

"Return  to  your  work  and  close  the  door," 
said  Quan  to  his  wife.  It  was  not  well  for  women 
to  know  too  much.  "To  whom  do  you  belong?" 
he  asked  the  girl. 

"To  one  of  the  family  of  Cheong.  He  brought 
me  from  Portland  to  sell  me  here,  but  I  ran 
away." 

"To  what  family  do  you  belong?" 


300  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"To  the  clan  of  Quan." 

"Is  that  why  you  rang  at  my  door?" 

"No;  all  doors  here  are  alike  to  me.  I  ran 
up  the  stairs  till  there  were  no  more." 

"Were  you  seen  to  enter  this  house?"  asked 
Quan. 

"No;  no  one  saw  me.  Please  hide  me-— or  take 
me  quickly  to  the  foreign  devils'  mission." 

Quan  Quock  Ming  reflected.  Here  was  a  mat- 
ter that  promised  profit,  and  the  only  problem  was 
to  make  the  most  of  it.  A  little  could  be  gained 
by  notifying  the  owner  of  the  whereabouts  of  the 
girl  and  accepting  what  he  chose  to  pay.  More 
could  be  made  by  keeping  her  concealed  till  a 
large  reward  were  offered  for  her  return,  and 
still  more  by  hiding  her  till  pursuit  had  been 
abandoned  and  then  selling  her  in  some  other  city. 
The  risks  were  commensurate  with  the  profits,  so 
he  must  move  cautiously.  It  was  important  that 
he  should  learn  all  that  he  could  concerning  the 
matter  as  quickly  as  possible. 

"Very  well,"  he  said.  "I  will  keep  you — safely 
— till  I  can  find  an  opportunity  to  get  you  to  the 
foreign  devils'  mission — secretly." 

Quan  rose  from  his  stool,  turned  to  the  wall 
and  took  down  his  fur-lined  jacket.  He  heard 
the  bolt  on  the  kitchen  door  shot  into  place, 
whirled  to  learn  the  meaning  of  it  and  looked  into 
the  muzzle  of  a  large  revolver. 

"If  you  sound  an  alarm  I  will  shoot,"  said  the 
girl,  arid  there  was  a  gleam  in  her  small  eyes  and 


GLORY  OF  HIS  ANCESTORS      301 

a  firmness  in  her  warning  that  told  him  sihe 
would  do  it. 

"What  do  you  want?"  he  demanded. 

"Not  so  loud,"  she  ordered,  and  stepped  closer 
to  him.  "I  want  to  kill  you — but  not  just  yet. 
Unlock  that!"  and  she  pointed  to  the  camphor- 
wood  chest. 

"I  am  a  poor  man,"  he  whined.  "Would  you 
take  all " 

"Unlock  it — and  be  quick  about  it."  She  thrust 
the  revolver  almost  within  an  arm's  length  of  his 
breast.  Quan  glanced  about  for  some  means  of 
escape,  then  obeyed  her  reluctantly.  "Throw 
back  the  lid!"  He  did  as  he  was  ordered.  "Now 
take  out  all  the  papers  and  spread  them  on  the 
table." 

Quan  obeyed  the  command,  being  careful  to 
keep  the  bag  of  coin  covered  with  his  long  sleeves 
while  he  rummaged  in  the  chest.  When  the  pa- 
pers were  spread  out,  the  girl  picked  up  the  one 
that  bore  the  seal  of  Chan  Gow  Doy  and  thrust 
it  inside  her  blouse. 

"That  is  all,"  she  said,  and  backed  quickly  to 
the  bedroom  door,  keeping  him  covered  with  the 
revolver. 

"Why  have  you  robbed  me  of  that  which  is  of 
no  value  to  you?"  demanded  Quan. 

"You  are  fortunate  in  escaping  with  your  life, 
which  is  of  no  value  to  any  one,"  she  replied. 

"Why  do  you  wish  to  take  my  life?" 


302  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

"Because  you  took  mine — and  some  day  I  will 
take  yours!" 

Her  eyes  blazed  at  the  recollection  of  all  she 
had  lost  and  suffered,  her  teeth  clenched  with 
hatred  and  new  determination,  and  her  finger  be- 
gan to  tighten  on  the  trigger. 

"Who  are  you?"  gasped  Quan  Quock  Ming. 

"I  was  Chan  Gow  Doy's  boy — Guy  Juy,"  she 
replied.    "Now  I  am  only  Ah  Chut !" 

Quan  staggered  back  and  stared  at  her  wide- 
eyed.  His  jaw  sagged,  his  face  grew  ashen  and 
he  trembled  from  head  to  foot.  Ah  Chut  smiled 
grimly  at  the  thought  of  the  terror  she  had  in- 
spired, and  shoved  the  revolver  toward  him.  He 
closed  his  eyes  and  with  a  moan  crumpled  down 
in  a  heap  upon  the  floor.  Ah  Chut  laughed  out- 
right and  lowered  the  revolver. 

"Remember!  I  will  kill  you  yet!"  she  cried, 
then  slammed  the  bedroom  door,  bolted  it  behind 
her,  climbed  out  on  the  fire-escape  and  fled  over 
the  housetops. 

Chan  Gow  Doy  was  sitting  at  home  with  his 
face  buried  in  his  hands.  A  demand  had  been 
served  upon  him  that  day  to  deliver  all  prop- 
erty in  his  possession  to  Quan  Quock  Ming,  and 
with  It  a  covert  threat  that  failure  to  comply 
would  necessitate  action  by  the  Suey  Sing  tong. 
Chew  Doo  entered  from  the  adjoining  room. 

"Aih-yah!"  cried  Chan  Gow  Doy.  "You  are 
the  cause  of  all  my  misfortune— you,  who  should 


GLORY  OF  HIS  ANCESTORS      303 

have  been  born  a  girl — and  are  a  girl.  If  you 
were  only  half  the  son  that  Ah  Chut  is " 

Without  a  word  Chew  Doo  drew  a  paper  from 
his  blouse  and  handed  it  to  his  father. 

"What  is  this?"  cried  Chan  Gow  Doy  in  amaze- 
ment.    "Where  did  this  come  from?" 

Chew  Doo,  with  his  head  bowed  respectfully 
and  his  eyes  upon  the  floor,  hesitated  an  instant 
before  he  answered: 

"From  Quan  Quock  Ming's  camphor-wood 
chest." 

"My  son — my  son!"  cried  Chan  Gow  Doy. 
He  flung  his  arms  around"  Chew  Doo  and  hugged 
him  to  his  breast.  "What  a  joy  to  have  a  worthy 
son!" 

Ah  Chut,  listening  at  the  door,  smiled,  ran  to 
her  own  room,  threw  herself  upon  her  bed  and 
cried — softly  and  happily. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  GIRL  BOY 

Quan  Quock  Ming  was  sitting  at  his  usual 
place  on  the  street  corner,  his  shoulders  hunched, 
his  hands  tucked  in  his  long  sleeves  and  his  toes 
turned  around  the  legs  of  his  stool;  but  the  seren- 
ity that  had  marked  his  repose  through  a  long 
period  of  prosperity  was  gone.  His  low  fore- 
head was  puckered  to  a  frown,  his  heavy  jaws 
were  set  savagely,  his  thick  lips  were  compressed 
with  hatred,  and  his  beady  eyes  were  fixed  malev- 
olently upon  Chan  Gow  Doy,  the  gambler. 

"Hai-i-ie!"  he  growled.  "To  lose  a  fortune 
that  it  took  me  fifteen  years  to  get!  And  to  be 
robbed  by  a  girl !     Hai-i-ie !" 

Chan  Gow  Doy  was  standing  at  the  entrance 
to  his  gambling-house,  his  shoulder  braced  against 
the  door-jamb  and  one  foot  crossed  negligently 
over  the  other.  He  puffed  contentedly  at  his  pipe 
and  smiled  with  satisfaction  when  his  eyes  fell 
upon  the  fortune-teller. 

"Aih-yah  I"  he  chuckled.  "What  a  great  joke ! 
The  cunning  old  thief,  who  defrauded  me  of  my 
whole  fortune,  outwitted  by  a  mere  boy!" 

The  truth  of  the  matter  lay  with  Quan,  while 
the  document  remained  with  Chan ;  but  it  was  the 

3<H 


THE  GIRL  BOY  305 

result  more  than  the  means  of  its  accomplish- 
ment that  perturbed  Quan  and  satisfied  Chan. 

Old  Wong  Yee  Shi,  with  her  arms  full  of 
meat,  groceries  and  vegetables,  waddled  up  the 
street  and  paused  before  Quan's  table  to  get  her 
breath  and  exchange  bits  of  gossip. 

"Aih-yah!  This  hill  grows  steeper  eyery  day, 
sir  scholar,"  she  grumbled. 

Quan  changed  neither  his  expression  nor  the 
direction  of  his  gaze.  Wong  Yee  Shi  shifted  her 
parcels  to  one  arm  and  mopped  her  face  with  a 
green  silk  handkerchief. 

"Has  the  promoter  of  happiness  and  longevity 
any  information  that  would  be  profitable  to  the 
procurer  of  husbands  and  wives?"  she  inquired. 

"Go  away!"  ordered  Quan,  without  taking  his 
eyes  off  Chan  Gow  Doy. 

"Hai-ie!" 

Wong  Yee  Shi  braced  herself  to  deliver  a  curse 
appropriate  to  the  occasion  and  the  provocation 
and  discovered  that  she  was  not  receiving  the  un- 
divided attention  of  the  fortune-teller  essential 
to  its  effectiveness.  She  turned  and  saw  Chan 
Gow  Doy  smoking  and  smiling.  Everyone  in 
Chinatown  had  heard  of  the  controversy  that 
had  arisen  between  them. 

"Haie!  Haie!"  she  cackled.  "Two  dogs  and 
a  bone !  But  I  have  done  a  good  bit  of  business 
with  him,  I  can  tell  you.  Six  husbands  for  six 
girls — and  twelve  commissions  out  of  it!" 

Quan   started  up   angrily.      "Go   away,   I   tell 


3o6  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

you!"  he  bellowed.  "What  do  I  care  about  your 
business  or  your  commissions  ?" 

"What  do  you  care?"  screamed  the  undaunted 
marriage -broker.  "You  have  never  failed  to  de- 
mand your  share  if  you  so  much  as  mentioned  a 
name  to  me.  May  evil  spirits  in  the  form  of 
fleas  pick  the  flesh  from  all  fortune-tellers  and 
leave  their  bones  to  rot  in  the  gutter!" 

Quan  Quock  Ming  dropped  on  his  stool  help- 
lessly. He  knew  that  whenever  Wong  Yee  Shi 
engaged  in  an  altercation  on  the  street  a  crowd 
quickly  gathered  to  laugh  and  urge  her  on.  He 
saw  her  gathering  her  breath  for  another  out- 
burst and  raised  a  staying  hand. 

"One  moment,  Wong  Yee  Shi.  It  occurs  to  me 
that  there  is  another  bit  of  business  in  which  you 
might  find  a  profit." 

"Haie!  What  do  I  care  about  your  business, 
Quan  Quock  Ming?"  she  shrieked.  "Take  it  to 
someone  else,"  and  she  glared  at  him  defiantly. 
"Well— what  is  it?" 

"Chan  Gow  Doy  still  has  another  daughter." 

"Another  daughter!  Aih-yah!  Is  she  a  boy, 
or  is  he  a  girl?" 

"Chew  Doo  is  a  boy,  Ah  Chut  is  a  girl." 

"No;  he  is  still  a  girl  and  she  is  still  a  boy. 
Who  would  want  her  for  a  wife?" 

"That  is  for  you  to  find  out,  Wong  Yee  Shi. 
In  that  way  you  may  earn  a  triple  fee,  for  I  will 
pay  as  much  as  Chan  Gow  Doy  or  the  father  of 
the  husband  you  may  find.     Now  walk  your  way." 


THE  GIRL  BOY  307 

Wong  Yee  Shi,  muttering  maledictions  upon  all 
fortune-tellers,  boy  girls  and  girl  boys,  waddled 
off  up  the  street.  A  fighting  man  of  the  Suey 
Sing  tong  stopped  before  Quan's  table. 

"The  reward  has  been  accepted,  sir  scholar," 
he  whispered. 

"So  soon!     Hai-ie!" 

Quan  sprang  to  his  feet,  gathered  up  his  for- 
tune-telling paraphernalia,  snapped  the  legs  of 
his  table  together,  folded  his  stool  and  hurried 
up  the  street  toward  his  home.  Chan  Gow  Doy 
was  looking  after  him,  wondering  at  the  celerity 
of  his  movements,  when  one  of  his  clan  came  up, 
breathless  and  excited. 

"Quick,  elder  cousin!"  he  gasped.  "Hide! 
Quan  Quock  Ming  has  placed  a  price  upon  your 
head,  and  the  fighting  men  of  the  Suey  Sing  tong 
have  accepted  it." 

"Hai-ie!" 

Chan  Gow  Doy  dropped  his  pipe  and  ran 
toward  his  home. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

AN  ACCOUNT  IS  SETTLED 

As  Wong  Yee  Shi  approached  the  home  of 
Chan  Gow  Doy  a  face  peered  out  of  a  doorway 
for  an  instant,  then  disappeared.  She  glanced 
across  the  street  and  saw  two  fighting  men  of 
the  Suey  Sing  tong  lounging  in  the  doorway  of  a 
cigar  store. 

"Hai-ie !  The  cats  are  waiting  for  the  mouse  lM 
she  muttered  and  hurried  on,  her  heart  keeping 
time  with  the  pat  of  her  slippers. 

As  she  climbed  the  three  flights  of  stairs  lead- 
ing to  the  top  floor  of  the  tenement  she  heard 
panels  softly  sliding  at  each  door  and  knew  that 
watchful  eyes  were  peering  out  at  her,  though  she 
could  see  nothing  in  the  dark  halls.  There  was 
no  answer  to  her  ring  at  Chan  Gow  Doy's  door 
and  after  waiting  a  moment  she  repeated  it. 

"Who  is  there?"  inquired  a  tremulous  female 
voice. 

"I  am  Wong  Yee  Shi,  the  promoter  of  con- 
jugal felicity,"  she  answered. 

There  was  whispered  conversation,  the  soft 
sliding  of  a  panel,  the  quick  scrutiny  of  fright- 
ened eyes,  the  drawing  of  bolts,  and  then  the  door 

308 


AN  ACCOUNT  IS  SETTLED       309 

that  was  opened  just  wide  enough  to  admit  her 
was  slammed  behind  her. 

"One  cannot  be  too  careful  at  such  times," 
apologized  the  wife  of  Chan  Gow  Doy. 

"Certainly — unless  one  wishes  to  become  a 
widow,"  cackled  Wong  Yee  Shi.  "But  you  are 
too  venerable  and  too  corpulent  to  think  of  such 
a  thing.  Besides,  my  business  is  to  procure  hus- 
bands, not  to  dispose  of  them.  Don't  you  want 
one  for  your  seventh  daughter?" 

"Certainly — if  one  can  be  found.  Ah  Chut ! 
Ah  Chutr  she  called. 

Ah  Chut  came  from  her  bedroom.  When  she 
saw  Wong  Yee  Shi  she  stopped  in  the  doorway 
and  scowled. 

"Aih-yah!"  exclaimed  the  marriage-broker. 
"What  a  fine-looking  girl  you  have  made  out  of  a 
bad  boy!  Without  a  doubt  I  shall  be  able  to  find 
a  good  husband  for  her  very  quickly." 

According  to  all  the  rules  of  propriety  Ah 
Chut  should  have  blushed  and  hung  her  head. 
Instead  she  poured  upon  the  head  of  the  mar- 
riage-broker all  the  curses  she  had  learned  when 
she  was  the  bad  boy  of  Chinatown. 

"Oh,  I  know  a  young  man  who  will  be  just  the 
husband  for  her,"  laughed  Wong  Yee  Shi. 
"Wong  Kit  has  a  wealthy  father,  and  he  is  a 
fighting  man,  so  he  will  be  able  to  provide  her 
with  fine  apparel  and  give  her  a  beating  when- 
ever she  deserves  it." 

Ah  Chut  flushed  and  dropped  her  eyes  as  she 


310  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

recalled  the  evenings  she  had  sat  on  doorsteps  lis- 
tening to  Wong  Kit's  tales  of  highbinder  wars, 
and  his  prediction  that  when  she  grew  up  they 
would  be  fighting  men  together. 

"And  I  shall  tell  his  father,"  continued  Wong 
Yee  Shi,  "that  Ah  Chut  is  like  a  dove — quiet  and 
stupid — with  no  mind  of  her  own." 

"If  I  am  sold  to  any  man  for  a  wife,"  de- 
clared Ah  Chut,  "I  shall  first  put  opium  in  his 
noodles  and  then  hang  myself." 

When  Wong  Yee  Shi  had  departed,  chuckling 
and  cackling  over  the  prospects  of  a  match  that 
would  give  her  so  much  satisfaction  and  profit, 
Chan  Gow  Doy  entered  from  an  inner  room. 

"You  worthless  pig!"  he  roared.  "How  can 
I  ever  get  for  you  one-tenth  of  the  sum  I  have 
wasted  upon  you?  But  I  care  nothing  for  the 
money  and  nothing  for  you — you  demon's  brat! 
But  my  son — my  only  son !  The  one  who  should 
be  the  glory  of  his  ancestors!  You  are  deter- 
mined that  he  shall  be  nothing  but  a  girl !  Was 
ever  a  man  so  cursed?  Let  this  teach  you  obedi- 
ence and  respect  for  your  family!"  and  he  gave 
her  a  beating  that  left  her  stunned  and  bleed- 
ing. 

Late  at  night  Chew  Doo  stole  to  her  bedside. 
He  found  her  still  sobbing  and  moaning  with 
pain. 

"It  is  hard,  elder  sister,"  he  whispered,  as  he 
took  her  hand  and  held  it,  "but  try  to  be  a 
woman." 


AN  ACCOUNT  IS  SETTLED       311 

"I  can't,  Chew  Doo— I  can't!"  cried  Ah  Chut 
vehemently. 

"I  know,  Ah  Chut.  It  is  as  difficult  for  me  to 
be  a  man;  but  you  are  a  woman,  and  women  must 
become  wives,  while  men  may  be  anything  they 
choose." 

"It  does  not  matter  what  becomes  of  me,  Chew 
Doo,"  she  replied,  "but  you  are  the  only  son  of 
our  father,  and  you  must  be  a  man — you  must 
be — you  shall  be — for  the  honor  of  the  clan  of 
Chan!" 

The  deadly  feud  between  the  fortune-teller  and 
the  gambler,  both  of  whom  had  figured  so  prom- 
inently in  the  affairs  of  Chinatown,  and  who  had 
been  such  fast  friends  for  so  long  a  time,  stirred 
the  whole  quarter.  As  the  residents  passed  along 
the  streets  they  glanced  at  the  corners  where  for 
years  Quan  Quock  Ming  had  sat  on  his  stool 
and  Chan  Gow  Doy  had  lounged  in  his  doorway, 
shook  their  heads  and  muttered: 

"The  foxes  are  still  hiding  in  their  holes!" 

They  paused  at  shop  doors  to  discuss  the  affair 
in  whispers  and  before  the  deadwalls  to  read  the 
latest  news  conveyed  by  flaming  placards.  They 
learned  that  the  Six  Companies  were  "doing  all 
in  their  power  to  adjust  amicably  the  differences 
that  had  recently  arisen  between  two  prominent 
persons,"  and  that  the  See  Yup  society  had  ap- 
pointed "peace-talkers  with  the  hope  that  a  com- 
promise might  be  effected."  And  they  read  the 
announcements  of  timorous  men  disclaiming  all 


312  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

interest  in  the  controversy  or  sympathy  with  either 
side,  for  fear  that  ua  horse  might  be  mistaken  for 
a  deer." 

Quan  Quock  Ming,  fearing  that  retaliatory 
rewards  upon  his  head  might  have  been  offered 
and  accepted,  dared  not  venture  across  the  thresh- 
old of  his  home — scarcely  beyond  the  opium 
bunk  in  an  inner  room  that  had  no  windows. 
Fighting  men  still  loitered  in  doorways  watching 
the  home  of  Chan  Gow  Doy,  and  watched  in  turn 
by  Chan  Gow  Doy  and  the  police  stationed  in  the 
quarter.  Days  passed — days  of  tense  waiting 
and  watching,  punctuated  only  by  the  occasional 
visits  of  "peace-talkers"  urging  Quan  and  Chan 
to  submit  their  differences  to  arbitration,  in  the 
hope  that  the  loss  of  life  and  injury  to  business 
resulting  from  a  highbinder  war  might  be  averted; 
but  both  stood  firm.  Neither  would  recede  in  the 
slightest  degree. 

Urgent  messages  calculated  to  lure  Chan  Gow 
Doy  into  the  open  were  received  by  him  over  the 
telephone  and  by  mail,  but  he  was  too  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  methods  of  highbinders  to  ven- 
ture out.  Occasionally  at  night  stealthy  footsteps 
could  be  heard  on  the  roof  of  his  home,  and  once 
when  Ah  Chut  opened  the  iron  shutters  of  her 
bedroom  a  face  peered  in  at  her. 

At  last  came  the  police  to  the  home  of  Chan 
Gow  Doy  with  a  warrant  of  arrest  charging  him 
with  robbing  Quan  Quock  Ming,  and  he  was  com- 
pelled to   accompany  them   to   the   city  prison. 


AN  ACCOUNT  IS  SETTLED       313 

Members  of  his  clan  quickly  provided  bail  and 
employed  white  bodyguards  to  accompany  him 
and  protect  him  on  his  way  to  and  from  the 
courtroom. 

"Be  watchful,"  they  were  warned,  "or  the 
Suey  Sings  will  surely  kill  him." 

When  the  case  came  to  a  hearing  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  his  three  wives,  and  several  clansmen  tes- 
tified that  Chan  Gow  Doy  had  gone  to  Quan's 
home  at  night  and  had  robbed  him;  but  Chan 
proved  by  his  clansmen  and  a  white  watchman 
that  at  the  time  fixed  by  the  other  witnesses  he 
was  at  his  gambling-house;  so  the  charge  was  dis- 
missed. 

Chan  Gow  Doy,  with  a  protector  on  each  side 
of  him,  hurried  toward  his  home.  As  they  ap- 
proached the  mouth  of  a  small  alley  two  Chinese 
boys  emerged  fighting  viciously,  and  a  large  crowd 
surged  out  after  them.  Before  Chan  and  his 
bodyguards  could  turn  aside  they  were  com- 
pletely surrounded  and  swept  along  with  the 
crowd.  Suddenly  there  was  a  half-muffled  report, 
and  Chan  Gow  Doy  sank  to  the  sidewalk  with  a 
cry.  His  guards  saw  a  large  revolver  lying  be- 
side him,  seized  the  two  men  nearest  to  him  and 
held  them  till  the  police  came.  They  were  Suey 
Sing  fighting  men,  but  no  one  could  be  found  who 
would  say  that  he  had  seen  either  fire  the  shot. 


CHAPTER  IX 

A   PROPHECY   FULFILLED 

The  elders  of  the  clan  of  Chan,  assembled  at 
the  home  of  Chan  Gow  Doy,  sat  with  bowed 
heads  waiting  for  the  eldest  and  wisest  among 
them  to  speak,  their  minds. 

"Our  kinsman  has  been  murdered,"  said  the 
one  who  because  of  his  age  and  probity  occupied 
the  seat  of  honor,  "and  two  things  remain  to  be 
done.  His  body  must  be  buried  in  a  manner  be- 
fitting one  of  his  wealth  and  station,  but  first  his 
murder  must  be  ayenged.  If  that  be  not  done  his 
spirit  will  know  no  peace  and  his  descendants  will 
know  nothing  but  misfortune." 

"Two  fighting  men  of  the  Suey  Sing  tong  are 
already  in  prison,"  suggested  one  among  them. 

"That  is  not  sufficient,"  declared  the  first  speak- 
er. "You  may  as  well  throw  the  weapon  that 
killed  him  into  the  sea  and  say,  'He  is  avenged!' 
Quar  Quock  Ming,  the  wicked  old  fortune-teller, 
is  the  real  murderer — the  fighting  men  merely  his 
instruments.  Would  the  death  of  both  of  them 
wipe  out  the  insult  and  maintain  the  honor  of  the 
clan  of  Chan?" 

"No!     No!"  cried  half  a  dozen  of  the  elders. 

*'Then  what  is  to  be  done?"  asked  one  among 
them. 

314 


A  PROPHECY  FULFILLED        315 

uIt  is  the  duty  of  Chan  Chew  Doo,  the  only 
son  of  our  dead  kinsman,  to  avenge  his  death 
and  save  the  face  of  the  family,  and  it  is  only  for 
us  to  counsel  and  advise.'1 

"Hai-ie!  Chan  Chew  Doo?"  cried  one.  "He 
is  only  a  boy." 

"No,"  said  another  contemptuously,  "he  is  only 
a  girl!" 

"He  has  lived  sixteen  years,"  said  the  counse- 
lor of  the  family,  "and  at  that  age  one  is  supposed 
to  be  a  man.     One  must  be  a  man." 

"He  will  never  do  it,"  declared  another. 

"He  must — or  he  shall  be  driven  out  of  the 
family  and  be  denied  the  privilege  of  worshiping 
our  tutelary  gods,"  said  the  head  of  the  clan. 

Chew  Doo  was  summoned  and  stood  before 
them  with  head  bowed  respectfully  and  eyes  cast 
down. 

"You  are  now  the  head  of  this  household,  Chew 
Doo,"  said  the  elder,  "and  it  is  your  duty  to  main- 
tain the  honor  of  the  family  and  to  secure  the 
repose  of  your  father's  spirit.  See  to  it  at  once 
that  Quan  Quock  Ming  is  removed.  Employ 
whatever  means  you  choose,  but  do  not  fail.  If 
you  do,  you  shall  be  driven  out  of  the  family  of 
Chan — and  that  is  worse  than  death." 

With  this  admonition  the  elders  departed  slow- 
ly and  gravely. 

"I  cannot  do  it!  I  cannot/"  cried  Chew  Doo, 
when  alone  with  Ah  Chut. 

u  must  be  a  man,  Chew  Doo,"  she  said 


316  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

gently.  "Our  father's  death  must  be  avenged 
before  his  spirit  can  rest." 

"I  have  offered  a  reward  of  ten  times  the  usual 
amount,  but  no  fighting  man  will  accept  it,  for 
Quan  Quock  Ming  is  the  head  of  the  Suey  Sing 
tong" 

"I  have  always  sworn  I  would  do  it,"  said  Ah 
Chut,  "for  making  a  boy  of  me  and  then  changing 
me  to  a  girl — but  you  yourself  must  do  it.  You 
must  be  a  manF' 

"Be  a  man?"  cried  Chew  Doo  petulantly.  "Be 
a  man?  I  shall  be  a  man  when  you  are  a  woman, 
Ah  Chut." 

"Then  I  shall  do  it  myself,"  she  declared. 

It  was  past  midnight  when  Ah  Chut  and  Chew 
Doo  climbed  out  the  window  of  her  bedroom  to 
the  fire-escape  and  clambered  to  the  roof.  They 
had  put  aside  their  habiliments  of  mourning  and 
were  dressed  as  Chinese  youths,  with  soft  caps 
drawn  low  over  their  eyes  and  rubber-soled  shoes 
upon  their  feet,  and  in  the  waistband  of  her  trous- 
ers Ah  Chut  carried  her  father's  revolver.  They 
crept  over  the  roofs  of  the  neighboring  houses, 
Ah  Chut  leading  the  way  with  grim  determina- 
tion, Chew  Doo  following  fearfully  and  with  chat- 
tering teeth.  Ah  Chut  slipped  down  the  fire- 
escape  that  led  past  the  rooms  of  Quan  Quock 
Ming,  but  all  the  windows  that  could  be  reached 
from  it  were  protected  by  iron  shutters  closed 
and  bolted.  She  climbed  back  to  the  roof  and 
examined  a  small  skylight  that  rose  slightly  above 


A  PROPHECY  FULFILLED        317 

it.  With  Chew  Doo's  pocket-knife  she  cut  away 
the  putty  and  raised  a  pane  of  glass,  then  peered 
down. 

"Look,  Chew  Doo !"  she  whispered. 

Quan  Quock  Ming  lay  upon  his  opium  bunk 
with  the  light  of  a  small  oil  lamp  shining  directly 
upon  his  face.  His  eyes  were  closed,  and  the 
regular  rise  and  fall  of  his  broad  chest  told  them 
that  he  was  sleeping  heavily.  Ah  Chut  lifted  out 
the  glass  and  laid  it  on  the  roof  softly.  She  drew 
the  revolver  from  her  waistband,  cocked  it  and 
rested  it  upon  the  sash.  The  time  and  opportu- 
nity for  which  she  had  waited  and  prayed  for 
years  was  at  hand.  Her  thoughts  flew  back  to 
the  night  when  the  old  fortune-teller  had  changed 
her  from  a  happy  boy,  whose  every  whim  had 
been  indulged,  into  a  wretched  girl  whose  every 
wish  had  been  denied.  She  thought  of  the  humil- 
iation she  had  suffered,  the  beatings  she  had  re- 
ceived and  the  misery  she  had  endured.  Now  he 
should  pay  for  it  all.  Oh,  how  he  should  pay! 
She  smiled  grimly  at  the  thought  of  it.  But  her 
vengeance  must  be  complete.  To  kill  him  while 
he  slept,  to  send  him  to  the  Ten  Courts  of  Jus- 
tice in  the  Kingdom  of  the  Dead  ignorant  of  the 
manner  in  which  his  fate  had  overtaken  him, 
would  be  too  merciful.  She  would  wake  him  first 
and  tell  him  who  she  was.  She  could  see  him 
start  up  and  stare  at  her,  his  face  convulsed  with 
deadly  fear  for  just  an  instant,  and  then,  before 
he  could  cry  out,  she  would  send  a  bullet  crashing 


318  THE  NIGHT  TIDE 

through  his  black  heart.  She  could  almost  see 
him  fall  back  upon  his  bunk  with  the  blood  gush- 
ing from  his  breast. 

Ah  Chut,  kneeling  by  the  skylight,  slid  the  bar- 
rel of  the  revolver  down  till  her  hands  rested  on 
the  sash.  Chew  Doo  shuddered  and  turned  away. 
Ah  Chut  took  long  and  careful  aim  and  opened 
her  lips  to  call,  but  her  throat  closed  and  she 
could  not  utter  a  word.  For  a  full  half  minute 
she  held  the  weapon  aimed  at  Quan  Quock  Ming's 
breast  before  she  could  utter  a  sound. 

uQuan  Quock  Ming!"  she  called  in  a  voice 
that  sounded  hoarse  and  strange.  uYour  time  has 
come !" 

The  fortune-teller  started  from  his  couch  and 
stared  with  protruding  eyes  at  the  figure  silhouet- 
ted against  the  sky  and  the  demoniacal  face  peer- 
ing down  at  him. 

"I  am  Little  Chicken  1" 

With  a  gasp  Quan  Quock  Ming  fell  back  upon 
his  couch,  his  eyes  fixed  and  staring.  Then  Ah 
Chut  tried  to  pull  the  trigger  but  her  strength 
seemed  to  have  left  her.  With  a  moaning  sob 
she  turned  away  and  crept  back  to  Chew  Doo's 
side. 

"I  can't  do  it,  Chew  Doo!  I  can't!"  she  whis- 
pered.    "I  am  nothing  but  a  girl  after  all." 

Chew  Doo  stared  at  her  as  she  crumpled  down 
at  his  feet  sobbing  impotently. 

"Then  I  will  do  it — for  I  am  a  man!" 

He    snatched    the    revolver    from    her    hand, 


A  PROPHECY  FULFILLED         319 

shoved  her  aside  and  crawled  to  the  skylight.  As 
he  knelt  and  thrust  the  revolver  through  the  open- 
ing Ah  Chut  closed  her  eyes  and  covered  her  ears. 
Quan  Quock  Ming  lay  on  his  back  still  staring. 
There  was  a  crash  and  a  roar.  Chew  Doo  threw 
away  the  revolver  and  raced  after  Ah  Chut  over 
the  roofs,  down  the  fire  escape  and  into  their  own 
home. 

"You  are  surely  a  man!"  she  whispered. 

"And  you  are  a  woman,"  he  replied. 

"Yes;  I  am  only  a  woman,"  sighed  Ah  Chut  as 
she  flushed  and  hung  her  head.  "If  you  should 
see  Wong  Yee  Shi  ask  her  to  mention  my  name 
to  Wong  Kit's  father." 

"Valvular  disease  of  the  heart,"  read  the  re- 
port of  the  autopsy  surgeon. 

"Chew  Doo's  invisible  bullet  carried  by  the. 
spirits,"  declared  the  elders  of  the  clan  of  Chan. 

//  the  spirit  of  Little  Pete  could  return  from 
the  Ten  Courts  of  Justice  in  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Dead  and  walk  beside  me  in  the  street  of  the 
Golden  Chrysanthemums  at  the  turning  of  the 
night  tide  it  would  whisper: 

"The  Big  Chink,  who  violated  the  chicken's 
head  oath  and  lived  like  a  chicken,  died  like  a 
chicken  when  he  heard  Little  Chicken  crow: 
'Your  time  has  come/'  " 

THE  END 


-SBO0KsISS-&-STDATE 

AN  INITIAL  ^,°»  A^Su" 
wT'lincb^s^oTth.  ^venth   day 

OAY     AND    TO     S'"  

OVERDUE. 


lb  32339 


